The Uzumaki
by Pen n' the Pad
Summary: The Uzumaki is a forgotten clan that only a few know about. Uzushiogakure was known to be wiped clean off of the map, and that last of its clansmen dispersed around the Great Nations. What happens when a hopeless Uzumaki girl winds up in Konoha by chance and gets the opportunity to meet one of her own. One problem, he doesn't know what an Uzumaki even is.
1. Chapter 1

At the tender age of six I knew what my purpose was. In fact, the realization came to me the moment I passed my mother's corpse while being dragged through the hallway of the hospital that she was murdered in. That bastard Zosui didn't even grant me the courtesy to say any last words to her, or have any semblance of a goodbye.

Breaking away from his grip on my hand, I ran towards my late mother and knelt at her bedside. As I looked over her body, I knew exactly how she was killed. The hundreds of bite marks that littered her still form was clearly evidence that these bastards took everything she had and then some more. They drained my mother of her life, and then had the audacity to leave her body in a dusty storage room.

The combined feelings of anxiety, pain, and despair among a number of other emotions overwhelmed my entire bring, and they all emptied itself on the bed side of my mother. When Zosui entered the room, he looked at me in annoyance and grabbed my arm firmly, and this time in a vice grip.

Forcing me from the ground to my feet, we continued to walk towards the door while I was screaming at the top of lungs for my Kaa-san. As we neared the door, I could hear the sounds of groaning, moaning and whimpers of pain. The closer we got, the more I could sniff the foul odor that made my nose want to congest itself.

Zosui quickly opened the door and the sight of Kusagakre's emergency room brought me back to reality. The room was large in size, but what really caught my attention were the numerous injured and wounded shinobi. From what it looked like, a good half of them either had a dismembered limbs or broken bones. Every single one of the shinobi had bandages wrapped around the majority of their body while some other shinobi underwent surgery.

"You're late." A tall man said with an emotionless expression on his face. The man had a doctor's coat which indicated that he was the only doctor in the emergency room from what I can tell. As he approached us, I could feel his eyes leering at me from behind his circular glasses.

"Where's that woman?" The doctor asked.

"She's dead." Zosui coldly stated without a hint of remorse. He then gestured down to me, "This is her daughter."

After that no more words were spoken. It was as if there was a silent understanding between the two men and right as Zosui dropped my arm, it was lifted back up by the doctor. He forced me in the direction of a severely wounded shinobi that looked as if he was on his deathbed. The Kusa shinobi had his traditional headband wrapped loosely around his forehead, and his entire body was covered in bandages from head to toe.

His left cheek was scarred with a deep gash that bled continuously.

"ITAI! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!" The Kusa shinobi bellowed.

The nameless doctor then held out my arm right across from his mouth, "Don't worry. We'll heal you in no time."

"NO! Please don't do it!" I begged to deaf ears. The bastard shinobi ignored my pleading and opened his mouth wide and sank his teeth deep into my pale flesh. It was then my turn to start expressing my wails of pain. Which yet again fell on deaf ears.

It was at this moment that I pondered what my mother had sacrificed for me. Before Kusagakure adopted us, we were a family without a home. Roaming the land on the outskirts of the land of Eddies where we our original clan had been obliterated. My mother would tell me stories about our homeland, our clansmen's red hair and amazing abilities such as fuinjutsu and our abundant life force. She told me our clan was destroyed many years ago before I was born, yet my mother still felt a great sense of pride about our homeland. It wasn't until I turned five that we finally ventured out of the Land of Eddies altogether and explored other small towns and villages. After six months of travelling, it was obvious to me that my mother was exhausted. Travelling costs, and all my mother had to offer was her ability to heal, having no other skill or trade to offer.

Our routine never changed, whenever we arrived and entered a town or village, we always visited the highest ranked hospital first. My mother would walk up to the receptionist and request for the head doctor of the hospital's presence at once. It would always take time, but eventually the doctors would come out of hiding and my mother would then tell me to stay put while she walked away with whomever. During that time I would wait about an hour or two before she would appear before me with cash or a check in hand. Then, she would let me choose which inn we would be staying in for the time being.

Before settling in Kusagakure, my mother always made sure to try and hide her old and most recent scars from me in order to paint the picture that she wasn't always in constant pain, but I always noticed them as soon as we left each hospital.

My thoughts of the past ceased when I felt a sudden release of my limb. Tears stained my face, and fear was evident on my face. I thought to myself as the doctor tugged me along to the next 'patient', in honor of my mother's many great sacrifices, I wouldn't let any of these sick assholes see my pain. Each bite they took, was another tally of my hatred, and very soon I would come up with a plan to escape this meaningless and pitiful existence that Kami deemed my life.

"Karin."

Knowing the fact that no one other than my mother and Zosui knew my name, I turned around and found him standing by the doorway. He gestured his head to come so I followed after him drained and exhausted.

We didn't speak as I had no words to say to him or anyone else in this damned village. He walked with me about half way towards my home and stopped to say,

"From tomorrow on until the day you die, go to the hospital even if no one comes to get you." He stated as if it were law.

"If you ever try to run, or betray this village know this," he stared down at me with eyes cold as ice, "No matter where you are, I will hunt you down and drain you of life force just until your heart is about to stop," he knelt down in order to speak his next words directly into my ear, "and I will use you as my breeding bitch for the rest of your pathetic life."

After that, he stood back up and walked away. I continue to walk until I reached the little hut my mother and I used to share. The door was open letting me know that someone was in here without me knowing. I was actually used to that, it serves as a key reminder that this place, this hell wasn't my home.

Right when I took my first step, I immediately retracted my foot and looked down in horror. There lay my deceased mother, her body looking as if it had just been thrown down on the welcome mat. Her skin had gained a bluish hue and her naked body had nothing covering it.

I slammed the door behind me, dragged her by the arms and fumbled to lay her down on the mattress the she and I slept together in. I then did the same, pulling a thin and dry cover over the both of us and snuggled into her chest. It didn't start then, but as time passed I felt as if my cries of sorrow were heard by the entire village.

Months passed, each one feeling like an eternity. Sure, I got used to being the village's favorite item on the menu, but knowing the reality of my situation kept me up at night. Kusa's villagers and shinobi's behavior towards me didn't help in the slightest either. Every day they made sure to let me know what my place was, how I should be groveling at their feet in gratitude, and to always serve my duty.

The rate of battle only increased as time passed, and their shinobi had too many injured on the battlefield to try and take back to the village. Zosui then started to train me, but only little things like moving like a shinobi, running, and self-defense. After a month of training, on top of serving my role at the hospital, Zosui told me he would be escorting me along with two others to a battlefield to heal wounded ninja.

"Follow me and make sure you don't die." Zosui bluntly told me as the four of us finished preparing for our mission. The other two were Kusa shinobi as well, one a medic ninja and the other a regular shinobi meant to keep me safe while we made our way to the location.

Zosui looked at the other two ninja and asked if they were ready. They nodded their head and the four of us leaped from the ground into the trees.

My only direction was to follow while they protected me. Zosui took the lead in front of me while the medic ninja was on the left and the ordinary shinobi took the rear. I could tell that their formation was flawed because my right side was wide open. If the enemy scouted us, or had someone with the ability to either sense chakra or see great distances they could easily identify this flaw and take advantage of it.

Though, the reason there was a flaw in the first place was because the village didn't have any other shinobi to spare for this mission. I learned this from the hospital, there's a lot of things I get to hear from the many injured shinobi that occupied the building.

We moved at a steady pace until we hopped from the trees into a clearing where unfortunately for me, a bloody battle was taking place. The sight of dead bodies and the vast amount of blood didn't scare me as much as it used to, and there was an abundance of them on both sides. I identified the Kusa shinobi on first sight, but I didn't know who the opposition was. I couldn't identify the headbands they had or what their green flak jackets symbolized.

The one thing I knew for sure was that every single one of the enemy shinobi had my clan's symbol on their backs. My head was lost in confusion and because of this a kunai had almost landed at the center of my temple. The medic ninja pulled me to the side a split second before I was another causality on the battlefield.

"What the hell are you doing?! Keep moving or I'll kill you myself!" he declared.

I followed his orders and kept running while they stuck to formation. Zosui was busy deflecting kunai and any other weapon that was being thrown at him. The medic ninja swiftly killed an enemy shinobi that charged at us from his position with his short sword.

Seemingly out of nowhere a wind jutsu sliced the rear shinobi's back. He let out a yell of pain right before he fell over motionless.

"Dammit! Koji replace his position! Whatever happens make sure you don't let that girl die. The risk of losing her is greater than both of our lives." Zosui explained.

"Hai captain!"

My anxiety reached to level one hundred. The chances of surviving just went down twenty five percent. Screw my 'bodyguards', I now only had a fifty percent chance of escaping out of this alive. This is exactly why I stopped praying to you Kami because of shit like this!

Our speed increased tenfold, and it was getting harder and harder to keep up with Zosui's pace. Turning around like he heard my quick and short breaths over everything else around us, he said, "Girl, remember the promise I made you the day your mother died. If you don't run faster I'll make sure you start breeding the village children as soon as we get back starting with me as the first daddy."

"NO! I'll do everything you tell me! Just please not that! Anything but that!" I vehemently begged him.

There was absolutely no way in hell I could ever let that happen. I'd rather take my own life then to have any of that sick bastards hell spawns.

By the time we made it out of the battlefield and back into the trees it was nearing nightfall. I could hear the countless sounds of nature all around me. The sky was a beautiful mix of orange, red, and yellow with the half of the golden sun sitting on the horizon.

When we made it a ways from the battlefield, Zosui slowed down and threw me his flask of water and a ration pack. He told me to eat and drink while moving but I just ignored him and viciously slurped down the magnificent hydrating water. The ration was devoured ten seconds afterwards.

The three of us all finally arrived to the location as soon as it got completely dark. When we landed and got a good look at the scene, we noticed that the platoon of Kusagakure shinobi that lay wounded were now corpses. All of them either had slits across their necks or stab wounds directly in their hearts.

When it registered within Zosui's mind that this mission was now a failure and a complete waste of time, he lost it.

"Shit! SHIT SHIT SHIT FUCKING SHIT!" he yelled as he started punching the nearest tree beside him with every shit. While he was having his mental breakdown, I silently let out a breath of relief. I fully knew what this mission was intended for despite not being told any information. It was actually obvious, why in the hell else would they escort me out of all people anywhere if it wasn't to take full advantage of my ability.

Serves them right, whoever dealt the finishing blow has my thanks.

I don't know if Zosui had his ears trained to listen to every move I made but he abruptly stopped punching the tree and stared me down right after I took my breath. I intentionally made the sigh silent just in case he or the other nameless Kusa shinobi would over hear my brief breath of congrats.

His features were that of a mad man, his eyes looking tired yet crazed like a lunatic.

I started to feel frightened, especially when he started to take steps towards me. Each step he took forward I took backward right up until I backed up into the other Kusa shinobi who immediately grabbed both of my arms and held them behind my back.

"Are you happy?" he asked me. I didn't answer.

"Are you happy girl?!"

"No Zosui! Our fellow shinobi are dead. There's nothing to be happy about." He knew I was lying. I knew he did. But instead of questioning my words, instead he started chuckling. His chuckling then moved on to laughter, and then on to a full blown out roar of him laughing like I just told one of the best jokes of all time. When his laughter died down, he looked at me with a 'are you serious' expression.

"Karin, who is this fellow shinobi you speak of? You know damn well you're not one of us! You're just an orphan girl who we will use until your sucked dry just like your bitch mother!" he exclaimed with a wide smile on his face.

I think he actually thought that those words hurt me. Like I didn't already know, like my fate wasn't staring me right to the face since you fuckers killed my mother.

"Did that make you feel better?" my confidence rising with every word I spoke.

"Boo hoo Zosui. Ya know what, your right. I couldn't care less if the lot of you motherfuckers would bite it. The sooner the better, in fact it's probably not going to take much longer at the rate Kusagakure is going. Nearly every battle you dumbasses fight you lose, and that's why you. Need. Me. You said it yourself you pitiful bastard, I'm worth a hundred of your ninja if not more. What are you going to? I know for a fact that your Kage wouldn't approve of my death, nor would he sign off on you touching me. I'm essential to the survival of your rotten village you scum."

Kami did that feel liberating. I would have said more if mister vice grip behind me wasn't about to nearly break my arms while I went on my little rant. Jeez I think I hurt his feelings… good. My endurance for pain has only increased over the months, and this wasn't about to break me or my spirit.

I loved this feeling so much it brought a shit eating smile to face. This is who I am, I say what I want and could give a shit about the repercussions. Better to live like this than a slave.

Zosui's reaction to my spirited speech was to punch me in the gut. I doubled over and lost my breath, not expecting it and certainly not expecting him to grab me by my scarlet red hair and to strike me, effectively breaking my glasses off of my face.

I hacked up some of my blood while Zosui stood across from me and waited until I gathered my bearings. At least I thought he was until I looked up and saw nothing. In fact, the feeling of my arms being gripped disappeared too.

After a second or so passed, a lady with dark indigo hair, cocoa brown eyes with a light tan trench coat and fishnet undershirt appeared before me.

"So what's your name red?"


	2. On the way Home

Anko Mitarashi sighed as she was forced to think about her baffling situation. Personally, she didn't have one single problem with the fact that she was carrying a currently knocked out red head on her back.

Earlier today she had heard reports from other Konoha shinobi who said they had witnessed a foreign, bright red headed girl travelling with Kusagakure shinobi. Each report stated the girl in question was being protected by three Kusa ninja who had held a strict guard formation that surrounded the girl from three distinct positions. This mysterious girl was seen on a battlefront not too far away from here, if Anko felt like it she could have gone to that exact location in a matter of two hours to gather more information.

That would have been a waste of time though. That very skirmish was wrapping itself up, Konoha of course being the obvious victors.

The raven haired woman had a lot plaguing her mind. The main source of her confusion was spotting this little girl who looked like she couldn't have been older than six, being pummeled and beaten by what she originally thought was her own village while on a mission of her own.

Which didn't make a lick of sense, why would Kusa turn on their own in the middle of a confrontation? Especially attacking a seemingly defenseless girl, who in her opinion shouldn't have even been out in the battle field in the first place.

What also made this kid a mystery were the many bite marks covering her open arms and legs? That was the question that pissed her off the most. Did those pigs force her into anything? Was she a sex slave? Kami why did she pass out before telling Anko her name!?

From her analysis, Anko's current predicament wasn't easy nor rational at all. For all she knew, she could be rescuing either a spy, or a prisoner of war. This could be a setup, a plan in which Kusa ensnared their enemies by acting out a tragic and inhumane scene to catch shinobi off guard. Their plan resulting in either an ambush, or this little girl figured her for a sucker and was going to deal the finishing blow herself. Her last thought made her chuckle, she _dared_ this little bitch to try something.

The chuunin's paranoia was taught and beaten into her by her former sensei. That slimy bastards paranoia didn't have a limit, no one could be trusted not even your comrades. It was a tough yet necessary lesson that the indigo haired woman actually appreciated, not that she would ever tell him or anyone else.

The constant questioning of this girl and her own actions would have ceased if the girl would have woken up by now. Depending on her story and body language, she could distinguish whether or not this child was friend or foe. She prayed to Kami that the girl was innocent though, she was much too cute to be put down. Added to the fact that despite their contrasting hair colors, Anko had a gut feeling that were similar in some way, shape, or form.

Speaking of, Anko noticed a slight change of the girl's breathing. The little red head's breaths changed from long, steady, calm breaths too short, harsh and ragged. The chuunin could tell she had woken up and was now faking unconsciousness. For what reason she was about to find out.

Anko slowed her pace and landed on a tree that could block her and the kid's bodies from view of any enemies coming south. She had to make sure this little interrogation was short and sweet.

"Hey, I know you awake short stuff. Why don't we cut the shit and you tell me what your name is and why those Kusa shinobi were beating you senseless." Anko demanded.

Fuck, she knows I'm awake, this lady is smarter than she looks. I can tell from her headband that she's a part of the shinobi that wear my clan symbol on their backs. Does she think I'm an enemy? No, if she did, I think she would have killed me already along with Zosui and the others.

I need to play this safe, if she doesn't identify me as an enemy right now, than she's in the middle of deducing whether or not I'm dangerous to her and her allies.

"My name is Karin. Karin Uzumaki, and those two were assaulting me because Kusa shinobi can't handle when their little slave girl is being honest with the shit heads who enslaved me."

Judging from the look the woman gave me, she still had more questions but believed what I was saying. Whomever this woman was, it doesn't look like she's out to hurt me, for now anyway.

"I like the way you talk Karin. Karin Uzumaki, I'm Anko Mitarashi, a shinobi of Konohagakure and since I just rescued your little ass your coming with me. No if, and's or but's about it." She said with a wide grin.

"Oh and don't worry about those 'shitheads' you were talking about, you won't _ever_ have to see them again. Now c'mon, me and you are going on a long trip that requires even longer explanation." She demanded yet again while bending down in position to let me ride piggyback.

"Wait, you trust me just like that?" I asked confused on why she would allow me, a stranger that could be directly allied to her enemies to climb on her back again after asking only one question. Surely she couldn't have been that naïve, she's a shinobi after all.

"Call it a gut feeling, I know you're someone to be trusted even without knowing all the details. Besides young one, your scars are all the proof I need to know the suffering they've caused you." Anko said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

I sat against the tree for a few more seconds, then made my decision to follow wherever she's going. If she was going to anywhere it was going to be with the people who had the Uzumaki clan symbol. Now she could also ask questions of her own that needed answers.

_**~Hokage Tower~**_

What an interesting turn of events. Exhaling smoke out of his pipe, the weathered Kage let out a smile that he was holding ever since he read a certain foul mouthed chuunin's mission report. There was going to be a new citizen joining the Leaf Village, and from what the information he received she was going to be a great new addition to his family.

Especially for a spry little blonde that desperately needed it as well. Karin Uzumaki, a glasses wearing child that has had a difficult and heartbreaking journey that no child should have to experience.

The details of the mission report gave Hiruzen all the information gathered by Anko from Karin. Though he wasn't the officiator of the war, the Third Hokage was damn proud that his shinobi ended victorious against Kusagakure and their shameful village.

The dispute between Kusa and Konoha began when Kusa had the audacity to demand he hand over territory without promising anything in return. Their piss poor strategy for negotiations were to either give them twenty five percent of their land or risk a declaration of war. Though Hiruzen was extremely tired of these never ending chain of conflicts, Danzo had a point hard as it was to admit.

If Konoha allow a barely competent village such as Kusa to demand anything from them and give into their demands, it would demonstrate weakness to the shinobi world. Other nations, maybe even allied ones would start jumping out of the woodworks to try and destroy the Leaf Village.

Another reason to enter battle was pointed out by Koharu, one of the elder councilors of his generation. She gave valid reason expressing that Konoha needed a confidence boost, and that the villagers and shinobi alike were for a lack of better terms depressed at the state Konoha currently was in.

The village was going through a great depression, and gaining a victory could provide a light spark for the people's will of fire to burn brightly once again.

The fools' confidence stemmed from Konoha's present status of deep recovery.

After surviving the Third Great Ninja War, all thanks to the fourth Hokage, Konoha's resources and economy were nearly depleted. On top of digging many graves for the countless shinobi that were killed during that exhaustingly long conflict.

Yes, they did have a couple of years to replenish those resources, but then came the Kyuubi attack that literally came out of thin air. Not only did the village suffer from losing shinobi again, but this time there were also many civilian casualties, homes and other buildings were destroyed in the havoc, and Konoha's fourth Hokage sacrificed himself along with his wife to seal the Kyuubi into their own child.

Too many times did his village suffer in such a short time span, and the surrounding nations took great advantage of their suffering.

For example, when Kiri tried to abduct the young princess of the Hyuuga clan although that mission failed. Konoha still had to make yet another sacrifice being The Hyuugas' clan head which is one of the most strongest and prominent clans in the village. Through a shamed plan, the Hyuuga were able to protect their leader at the cost of his own twin brother. It's made clearly evident that they are not the great village they once were.

For the sole purpose of Konoha and its people, Hiruzen made the executive decision to wage war against Kusagakure.

Now that the war was nearly finished, he was now patiently waiting for a document filled with a doctrine of peace.

The Hokage now had a victory, leverage to exploit, and now a new face joining the village. He should call for his son to come to the tower and have him light one with his old man. It was time for celebration after all.

_**~ The Next Day ~**_

"Are we there yet?" I wined.

"Didn't I say the next time you ask me that I was going to throw you so far into the air that the sun would give you a permanent tan?" The frustrated chuunin reminded.

"Anko, you might be a ninja but there's no wa- YOU'RE SERIOUS?" I fearfully called out.

"A shinobi always has to make good on her promises!" Anko exclaimed.

True to her word I was sent flying into the sky. I actually was able to touch a cloud before losing momentum and now plummeting to the ground at a fast rate. I closed my eyes fearing death right before a set of familiar hands plucked my small body from the air.

Soon as I opened my eyes I was staring back at an amused Anko looking like she was about to burst out laughing any second. A small pout reached my lips and I crossed my arm and turned my head while she was carrying me bridal style speeding within this thick forest of trees.

"Aww look you did get a tan little red." The amused leaf shinobi cackled.

I ignored her, still facing away from her and stuck my tongue out.

"Awe c'mon, it was just a little joke. You're a big girl, I know you've been through worse things than that." She said jokingly.

What she said couldn't have been truer. In all honesty, if I were to compare being thrown into the air to having men three times my size bite into my flesh every hour of every day, I would choose the former every single time.

It was actually kind of fun too, I never imagined myself acting childish and carefree. The facial expressions I was using and reactions I expressed have never appeared on my person before. The feeling wasn't normal in the slightest, and I secretly hoped that these feelings would never end.

Anko looked straight forward hopping from tree to tree, a content smile on her face. Karin wasn't robbed of all of her innocence judging from her childish like demeanor. The dumpling fanatic had taken a liking to Karin, in fact she already made her decision pertaining to the glasses wearing child while writing her mission report to the Hokage.

I opened my eyes when we suddenly descended and came to a complete stand still. In front of me where two huge emerald colored doors that had kanji painted in red on both of them. At the very top of the two doors, the symbol that was on Anko's forehead protector appeared, signaling this place as her home.

"Trip wasn't too long was it gaki?'

"Says you, I have been traveling for over more than two days." I huffed.

Anko's eyes twitched and she replied, "And who had an annoying, four eyed tomato on their back for a whole day huh? Oh that's right… me so I would shut your trap before we have another round of volleyball practice." The chuunin threatened snarking.

All I did in response was to jump from her back and proceed to ignore her.

"Mhmm, don't you love it when kids listen to their elders." Anko gloated.

We started to walk toward the entrance, and as we did reminiscent feelings of anxiety and fear started to build in my chest. Try as I might, I couldn't simply forget the traumatizing experiences I went through while in that hell. Going to another village didn't mean I was automatically safe, their leader already knows of my inherited ability thanks to Anko's insistent probing about my scars.

Though I've put a little of my trust in Anko, I was in a foreign environment that was even more powerful than Kusagakure. Maybe since they had great strength, my curse wouldn't need to be forcefully used again.

Whatever happens, I'm staying right by Anko's side. She was the only thing that kept my fear from eating me alive and from curling into a ball just to hide from everybody and everything.

I grabbed the bottom of the lavender haired girl's trench coat firmly, not letting go for anything.

_**~Hokage Tower~**_

"Mission report."

"Hai Hokage-sama. While I was on my scouting mission I located several of the enemies' bases where they were keeping supplies, food, water, weapons, scrolls, etc. As well as housing many of their injured and wounded. After thorough investigation, I quickly dispatched of the remaining Kusa ninja and then signaled nearby allies of my discoveries. I did this until I came across Karin Uzumaki, who was being assaulted by two other Kusa shinobi."

The Third Hokage nodded, "What information do you have pertaining to Karin Uzumaki? Do you believe her to be a potential threat to Konoha?"

"Based on the information I sent you prior, the girl's mother was used as an energy source of healing for about a year until she was found deceased by her daughter. Karin was then used as her replacement, adhering to her superiors against her will. Kusagakure sent her and three of their ninja on a mission into the fray of battle to attempt to heal their wounded in which I already finished off by the time of their arrival."

Anko then switched her tone from that of respect to one of determination.

"I strongly believe Karin Uzumaki not to be a danger to the village in any way. While travelling back to the village, I deemed her as a non-combatant, not capable of even hurting an academy student. Also, I request that she come back and live under me Hokage-sama. If there are any doubts about where loyalties lie, I will be held fully responsible." She said without a hint of deceit or doubt.

Hiruzen looked proudly at the chuunin standing in front of him. She was growing up right before his eyes, damn was he getting old. The troubled and distant girl didn't show any of her usual attitude in her speech, and he was able to recognize the level of care she felt for the stray she brought.

The old man wasn't surprised in the least, expecting a similar outcome along the same lines.

"Thank you for your report Anko. You are now dismissed. I will now have a talk with Karin and give you an answer about request." He said.

"Hai!" Anko bowed and then turned around to open the door.

"Alright, it's your turn now, and don't worry, if the old man tries to put any moves on you I'll have a snake slither right up his old ass." Anko reassured her.

For some reason, that helped steel my nerves a bit. The moment of truth was here, and now I can finally receive the answers I've been wanting ever since I learned of Konohagakure.

I walked into the room and was met with the appearance of a short old man with a grayed goatee and quite a few wrinkles adorning his face. He wore white and red robes that had Kanji on them. The Hokage also wore a triangular hat that completed his outfit.

"Hello, my name is Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage of Konohagakure. I was told you have some questions for me?"

"I do, first, I want to know why your village has my clan symbol on their backs?" I asked, well more like demanded.

"Awe, well you see young one your clan and this village have been allies ever since Konoha's founding. The Uzumaki clan was a powerful and peaceful clan that shared the same ideals as the first Hokage, so much so that his wife was a member of the Uzumaki. Her name was Mito Uzumaki, and she has been one of many heroes to Konoha for her amazing fuinjutsu among other great strengths."

I was in utter shock, mama had told me so many stories about Mito Uzumaki. She was supposedly one of the best kunoichi from the Uzumaki clan, in fact she was stronger than the majority of the males in the clan during that period. Why had she never mention anything about this village before?

"I have one more question," this one more important than the last, "are there any other members of the Uzumaki clan in this village? Please, if you know anyone you have to tell me." I desperately pleaded.

If there were truly was another member of my clan living here, I wouldn't hesitate in officially calling this my new home. Even though I made a bond with Anko, there was nothing like knowing that I wasn't left alone in the world. That I had some type of family left.

"Actually, there's someone who shares the same age as you that has the Uzumaki family name."

"Really!? Who are they? Where are they? What's their name? C'mon oji-sama don't leave me in suspense here!?" I bombarded.

I was about to continue in my relentless questioning, but suddenly a yellow flash burst through the Hokage's doors.

"Mah jiji, you wanted to see me?" a wildly spikey blond haired kid around my age asked. His skin held a light tan and he had giant sapphire blue eyes. Three lines went straight across each cheek, as if they were whisker marks. He wore a white shirt with red kanji that said flame in the center. He also wore tangerine cargo shorts and black, open toed sandals.

"Yes Naruto-kun. I want to introduce you to a special friend of mine, her name is Karin Uzumaki."

When the old man finished his sentence, I saw those bright blue eyes of his widen and he grew one of the biggest smiles I'd ever seen in my short life.

"Hey I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm going to be the next Hokage ya know! Nice to Meetcha!" he exclaimed with joy while holding out his fist.

"Wait, why the hell is your hair yellow?"


	3. Announcement

Naruto looked at Karin with a dumbfounded expression. Usually, he was used to dealing with others that 'claimed' to be smarter than he was. This was the first real time he was ever asked something so obvious that just about anybody could answer.

He couldn't believe that this red headed girl didn't know about the toad and the flies, if she was planning on joining the academy she needed to know such basic information. Naruto didn't know why the Hokage asked him to come here, but he assumed it was because he was now tasked with educating his new and only clan member about the way of life.

The blonde prankster faced Karin with an all knowing smirk as he spoke.

"Nani?" acting confused he replied, "Ya see when two people who love each other, they find peace within their love, and then it is their responsibility to make babies." Naruto explained with a nod to reassure himself of his genius level response.

He then added, "And the reason why my hair's yellow is because one of my parents had to have had yellow hair or something like it. There, now I have some questions to ask myself, why is your family name the same as mine?" he said while pointing his finger.

First impression of one of the last known member of my family… he's an idiot.

"No shit! You could have just said that's the way you were born baka! Hokage-sama are you sure this is the only member of my clan left?" I asked while visibly looking underwhelmed at the blonde moron.

This was all wrong, from what I was taught the Uzumaki were all supposed to have red or reddish brown hair. There wasn't one mention from mama about any one the Uzumaki having blonde locks let alone one being this… simple. As soon as this stranger who called himself an Uzumaki came through the door his presence emitted a bright, warm, and comfortable type of energy.

His energy bounced back off of mine and this strange sensation started coursing within the entirety of my body.

I don't know why, but it was like my body was instinctively trying to get closer to him. Just his presence itself was making me hot as if I had a fever, and from the touch of my cheek I could tell they changed into the color of my eyes and hair.

Acting on instinct alone, I charged towards Naruto and fully embraced him with both of my arm wrapped around his back.

As Naruto stood stiff, not comprehending the situation in the slightest, the Hokage looked on in interest at these strange turn of events. This sudden response from Karin he did not predict. If anything, the weathered shinobi thought it would at least take some time for the girl to warm up to Naruto's childish charms.

Hiruzen was also perplexed as Karin's chakra began to rapidly expand. Her chakra was crimson red in color, and she was emitting her distinct chakra throughout the surrounding area.

The head of the Sarutobi clan was surprised, it seemed that the girl carried with her two of the Uzumaki clans inherited abilities. Naruto acting as the conductor for her waves of expanding chakra, she let loose a vast amount of that chakra and it engulfed all of the tower.

Somehow, I could now understand and feel the life energy of every living being around me. It was like I now operated with two fields of vision, one of course being my normal sight, though my eyesight make things extremely too fuzzy which is why my mother had taken me to an ocular shop. There, she bought my lucky pair of cocoa brown glasses.

My second field of vision wasn't used with only with my eyes, but my spirit could now lock on and identify several different flames of energy. Each flame was distinct and had its own personality with characteristics similar to the person.

The blonde I was currently holdings energy was relatable to mine. I felt kindred feelings of loneliness bubbling right underneath the surface. On top was a unique sensation of optimism, though it was mixed. The bright and overzealous smile he wore acted as his mask to protect himself from others because of the immense hate within his heart.

The longer I felt and searched for his hatred, fear, stress, waves of deep negative emotions managed to physically crash and knock me back. I opened my eyes, finding myself facing the whiskered blonde on the ground with the image of a giant, nine tailed fox and his demonic red eyes filled with rage seared at the forefront of my head.

"Karin! Are you ok? Are you always this weird?" Naruto asked more for his benefit than hers.

Naruto moved to lift me back up, but I didn't know how to react after experiencing that power overload, especially after seeing that terrifying fox. I didn't know what just happened but it was confusing as hell to comprehend it all at once.

"Hey hands off! Just because we're of the same clan doesn't mean you could touch me without permission." I heatedly made clear.

"You just did the same exact thing five seconds ago!" Naruto yelled back.

Dammit he was right. How the hell could I explain that I was subconsciously drawn to him, I did just pretty much show him a big sign of affection. Great, now the idiot just called me out on my own bullshit.

"Forget about that. Jiji is what she's saying true? We're in the same clan? Why didn't I know I had a clan? What's our clan symbol? Where's the rest of the clan? Does our clan have an Uzumaki super jutsu that only we can learn?" Naruto persistently asked.

The Hokage looked at the blonde knucklehead in amusement. He couldn't help but smile whenever Naruto acted his age, he often shared some of the same characteristics with his late mother.

"Naruto, before I can tell you any information pertaining to your heritage you must understand that what I'm about to disclose it classified. No one else it to know and you must not discuss anything with anyone. Do you understand?" Hiruzen asked the young Uzumaki seriously.

"Yea, basically anything that you tell us is hush hush. Top secret. C'mon jiji if I'm going to be the Hokage one day then you should know that doing this type of stuff comes natural." Naruto boasted in confidence.

Both the Hokage and I deadpanned and decided to ignore his last remark. The old man then filled Naruto in on the history of the Uzumaki clan including details about the symbol that he had already told me. The whiskered faced idiot followed the majority of his explanation. He also asked why his hair wasn't red which I was still confused about myself.

More importantly why wasn't he was never told any of this until now. The Hokage took in a deep breath of smoke from his pipe and exhaled a plum of tobacco filled air.

"Listen Naruto-kun, you may not find my reasoning just, but know that my secrets were only to protect you. You are still too young to know about your father but, I can tell you all about your mother, Kushina Uzumaki." He said as he placed a picture frame of a beautiful scarlet haired woman with navy blue eyes on his desk. She wore an aqua colored pin on the left side of her hair, adorned with a heart shaped face.

"SHE'S MY MOTHER?! Her hair looks beautiful." The blonde Uzumaki said in awe of his mother's appearance.

She was quite beautiful indeed. Her hair reminded me of my mother's, the only difference being its length and style. My mother's hair was always cut short, reaching only her shoulders while Kushina's grew straight down her back.

I turned my head because Naruto was silent, and from what I can tell about him, I knew he was never silent for long. Tears were free falling down from his cheeks to the Hokage's desk. He wouldn't pull his eyes away from the picture of his mother, even after the Hokage offered to give him the frame to keep.

The emotional blonde nodded dimly, and wasted no time in carefully pocketing his newfound treasure.

Along the way of first meeting Naruto, I found us to be exactly the same in some major ways. Based on the Hokage's lecture I figured out that Naruto didn't have parents, worse was he had no clue who they were which is why he was dumbfounded at the prospect of the Uzumaki being a clan.

Naruto was an enigma, an idiot, a blonde, and he has something to do with big ass mean foxes. At the end of the day, he was the only source of family I have, and I _guess _he wasn't too unbearable.

"Hey look, we can reintroduce ourselves and start off with a proper greeting. Hi, I'm Karin Uzumaki and from now on we are going to be family and there's nothing you can do about it." I voiced while grinning warmly at him.

He rubbed his eyes of the last of his tears, looked up, and this time gave me a genuine and honest smile. "Yo! I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I promise to always protect you no matter what cause that's my nindo my ninja way, BELIEVE IT!"

"Yea ok, so despite the 'protect you', that was the lamest introduction that I have ever heard."

"So what now Hokage-sama?" I asked now that both the introductions and explanations were over.

"Anko, you may now come back inside." The Hokage said.

"About damn time! I was getting real tired of waiting on these brats and their tear-jerking reunion." Anko complained as she stepped back into the room.

"Uzumaki brat one," she pointed at me, "Your coming back with me and we're getting some shut eye. Uzumaki brat two, feel free to come by anytime, but not now." The lavender haired chuunin said.

"Karin, do you think you could teach me about our clan? You seem to know lots about it and I need to know _everything _about my mom and where she came from." He politely asked me.

Unbeknownst to him I had already fully intended to lecture him to death, and even if I didn't I don't think he would have gave me an option.

"Of course, that was the plan from the get-go Naruto. The Uzumaki clan lessons will promptly start as soon as possible." I said with folded arms and a confident smirk.

The giddy blonde responded with a full blown smile of his own and replied, "Great! I gotta clan! And an uhhh… sister? Cousin? It doesn't matter," Naruto suddenly charged at me and picked me up in a bear hug, "Cause no matter what we're family!" he yelled ecstatically.

"Alright, you two separate before you realize you can become more than family." Anko barked.

As Anko and I left the Hokage tower, leaving Naruto with the Hokage, I took the time to look and view the amazing scenery that surrounded me. The pink sakura trees were in full bloom, its leaves raining down, cascading down peacefully in bliss.

The people that occupied the village all wore varying positive expressions, either smiling, playfully pouting, reminiscing, etc.

Their energies all carried relative happiness. I felt safe, I finally felt safe. Mother, I won't let your sacrifice be in vain. I promise you, I will become strong for the sake of the Uzumaki, you have my word.

_**~ One Year Later~**_

"Hello, my name is Iruka Umino and from this day onward I will be your homeroom instructor. The shinobi standing on my left shall be my assistant." Our scar faced sensei introduced.

"I'm Mizuki, but you all can call me Mizuki-sensei. My role is to support and do whatever I can to help Iruka-sensei. I am also here to help you guys as well, so feel free to ask me about anything."

Hmmm, so these are going to be my instructors for the next four years huh? They seem capable enough, but they don't hold a candle to oneesan. The only training I need their help improving on is the fundamentals of battle strategy and also the history of how the five great nations came to be. Other than that, It's a given that I'm going to rank #1 out of the entire class.

Since I was sitting at the very top to the far right beside the window, I had a great view of all of my classmates. While Iruka-sensei made the class do ice breakers, I looked directly two seats below me and ogled my runner up.

I can't help but turn red every time I saw him because it always led to me fantasizing about how cool and mysterious he was. It was love at first sight when I first stumbled upon his chakra signature and immediately tracked him down to my second home, the Forest of Death. There, I saw him practice the shuriken jutsu with what seemed like ninety-nine percent precision.

I couldn't take my eyes off the way he seemed to dance while shooting the shuriken. I loved his style, attitude, and arrogance, it made me shudder in ways I couldn't explain.

Sitting next to him was a loud-mouthed, pink hair dyed, big fore headed banshee. Sakura actually had the audacity to claim Sasuke as if he wanted the gorilla, and to make matters worse, manages to sit next to him before I had a chance too.

Damn you oneesan, why did I have to train this morning and it's the first day of the academy? If it starts interfering with true love then there will be hell to pay, Naruto will help me make sure of it.

I began to look over at all of my classmates, getting a sense for each of their individual chakra signatures. Scanning the room, only a few of my classmates really interested me, like the timid and overly anxious girl that had stuttered out her name, Hinata Hyuuga.

She's the princess of the Hyuuga clan, a strong and prominent clan known for their dojutsu and gentle fist technique. Apparently the shy girl doesn't think too much of herself in any aspect, considering herself to be mediocre.

Whatever, that essentially lets me know that the Hyuuga will not be a strong contender for the future for Konoha, so the only real problem the Uzumaki clan will face real opposition from will be the Uchiha.

That situation is already accounted for, as long as Sasuke can surpass his elder brother than my plans will smoothly come to fruition.

"-arin, excuse me Karin!" the shout of Iruka sensei brought me back to reality. I looked around and quickly noticed all eyes were trained on me, waiting for me to introduce myself.

Sighing, I stood up from my seat and locked eyes with my favorite blonde relative. In order to officially bring back the Uzumaki back from the history books, we both need to make a grand and self-defining appearance. It was now my time to shine, and I couldn't help but smirk as I began to speak.

"As all of you already know, I am Karin Uzumaki, and for the sake of time, my clansmen and I will make this short." I announced.

"Today, I make a promise to you that the Uzumaki clan will once again reign dominant over all of the Great Nations, starting with the Land of Fire. Every other clan that _thinks_ they can compete with us, I openly invite you to try, but it will all be for nothing." I spoke with confidence with each word, and held a superior grin.

"The Hyuuga, Inuuzuka, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, and yes even the 'mighty' Uchiha can all suck it! The Uzumaki will reign over Konoha! " Naruto shouted, increasing his voice range to fill the entire room.

When I sat down after giving my valiant message, the class fell in an uproar.

"Who the hell do you think you are? And who are the Uzumaki? Just because you share the same family name with this idiot doesn't make you special. Disrespecting the Innuzuka is the worst mistake you made in your life four eyes." the mutt barked.

Said mutt had sharp and seemingly dangerous canines. He had coffee brown hair and two red fangs painted on each cheek.

"The Inuuzuka hadn't nor never will be the strongest among Konoha's clans. What makes you think you're even suitable to contend with us?" I sharply addressed.

Before he could growl out anything else, he was cut off by the platinum blonde bimbo.

"And what about us? My clan has been one of the greatest clans in Konoha history and you have have what? Only yourself and that blonde pipsqueak?The fact that you're making a fool out of yourself this early isn't very surprising tomato for brains." The Yamanaka teased.

"And the fact that your clan relies so heavily on other people to actively engage in combat is very disappointing ogre face." I rebutted, not letting her of all people have the last word.

"How dare you insult my clan, you weren't even born in Konoha so who gave you the right to stake any claim!? You're an outsider, and don't make me have to kick your ass to remind you." Ino amusingly threatened.

"Awe Ino-pig its's funny that you think you could land a hit on me with those twigs you call arms. For your information, the wife of the first Hokage gave me every right to be here. The Uzumaki have been respected for generations, so much in fact that this village has each and every one of your clans wear our symbol. What does that tell you?"

"ENOUGH! KARIN YOU ARE TO REMAIN SILENT FOR THE REST OF CLASS!" Umino shouted at the top of his lungs. I don't know why but, he grew an overly large and intimidating head while he was shouting.

Naruto was unusually silent, I would have expected him to get some licks in with me.

That was until I noticed that he wasn't anywhere near his seat. While everybody's attention was focused on me and Ino's commotion, he was too busy setting up his elaborate prank. I had to hand it to him, he always is unpredictable.

From a distance I heard, "The Uzumaki are going to be the strongest clan in all of the land, a message from the Uzumaki clan!"

That idiot, he painted the Hokage monument red with a giant red swirl on the Fourth Hokage's rocky face. I guess that's his way of staking his claim of dominance. Whatever the case, we both succeeded in today's mission.

Soon it will be time to show that our bark carries a lethal bite to any of the opposition.


	4. The Pre-Round

**~The Uzumaki ~**

The sun was rising, bringing along a dark yet vibrant orange to the sky. Above the orange, a light shade of violet caused by the mixing of dark orange and the recent maroon blue night, decorated the morning's sky along with twinkling stars like a magnificent painting.

I always loved the morning; it was always consistently beautiful. Never changing, something that I can place one hundred percent of my trust in because of its consistency.

I had gotten used to waking up early mornings; while I was trapped in Kusagakure if I wasn't awake and ready, standing in front of the entrance of the emergency room by six each morning Zosui would not let me go home that day. To make up for the time I apparently wasted, he wouldn't allow me to leave the hospital for forty-eight hours.

No breaks, I had to piss and shit in a bucket that sat right next to one of many injured shinobi that weren't able to use the restroom by themselves.

That habit never left, on many occasions I rose out of my sleep before my oneesan, but I didn't count that as a real accomplishment because the woman never missed going to the dango bar before coming home. She often succumbed to her drunken stupor every other night despite being a 'respectable chuunin'. Giving her the benefit of the doubt I suppose she caught the early morning bug on the days that were meant for training.

I continued strolling down the street, watching street vendors and other merchants prepare their shops for the day. I soon arrived at my destination, and right before I raised my hand to knock on the door I was caught off guard by the overwhelming scent of breakfast. Behind the door I heard the sizzling of pans and the boiling of water, all sounds I never expected to hear coming from this door out of all doors.

I quickly backed up, removed my glasses and used my white shirt to rub whatever was causing my eyesight to malfunction. When I placed them back on, the apartment number remained the same making the realization hit harder.

"Naruto! Open the damn door Naruto!" I yelled banging on his apartment door.

I simply couldn't believe what my mind was telling me, seeing it for my own eyes was the only thing saving my assumptions from coming to life.

When Naruto opened the door I immediately barged past him and took in the scene for myself. Everything was accounted for, the food, the furniture hasn't changed since the last time I was over here, and standing by the door flabbergasted was Naruto was in his birthday suit with a facial expression I couldn't describe. Like he was just waiting for whatever was about to come out of my mouth.

"Where is she?" I demanded.

"Where is who? Karin, I told you not to come over this early in the morning. This is my Naruto time, not Uzumaki time." He complained.

I searched the small apartment, from the cabinets in the kitchen to the closet of the messy blonde's room.

"In case you forgot ramen for brains, Uzumaki time is all the time. Now, where the hell is she Naruto?" I firmly demanded this time looking him eye to eye.

He still looked like he had no idea what I was talking about, but I still waited in silence for my answer. I couldn't believe he had the gall to do this. We were too young to even be thinking about that type of stuff, I had never even mentioned this part of the plan to him.

In all honesty, I didn't think the idiot had the capacity to understand the opposite sex let alone have one cook for him…let alone anything else.

Ughhh it drove me mad, though I didn't know why, this bitch of a problem was going to be solved either by decapitation or by one of the world's best explanations.

I stood tapping my toe, an impatient scowl set and a locked jaw in place. Fine, if he didn't want to say anything fine, time to put my training to work. I closed my eyes and focused in on my chakra, molding and compressing it into a scarlet pin sized ball.

Concentrating, I slowly removed a small pin then let the small ball explode, and my chakra effectively spread out and surrounded not only Naruto's apartment complex but the entire vicinity of Konoha's south side. This jutsu allowed me to fully take advantage of my inheritance, by compressing my chakra and then releasing it, I am able to identify and examine numerous chakra signatures at an extremely fast rate.

More importantly, I can selectively sift through those chakra signatures using my ability to see who has been in contact with who. Being a sensory type shinobi, my knowledge of chakra could be compared to that of a professor. Because of this I knew that chakra literally comes off a body's pores, regardless of the person's capacity.

As a result, whenever someone has had deep physical contact like an emotional hug or… several emotional hugs in a rhythmic tempo, I could see that person's chakra shed off another's like dead skin.

I have to say, (and repeat) being an Uzumaki is one of my best charms, and having my oneesan help me expand my power and adapt it to my will was the icing on top of the sponge cake.

After what seemed like five minutes of trying to pinpoint the worthless girl nothing resembling Naruto's chakra popped on my radar outside of this room. I could feel the wheels in my head beginning to overheat and the embarrassment start to fill my cheeks.

"What is all this? How did all of this food make itself?" I genuinely asked.

The blonde deadpanned, "Ne Karin, you really can't believe I know how to cook huh?"

"Of course not, you didn't know how to wash your own laundry before I came along." I stated factually.

"Clothes ain't food, and food is the reason why I get up in the morning."

He was speaking truthfully, the last time the whiskered Uzumaki slept over the groaning of his stomach woke me from my beauty rest.

"Why haven't you ever made _me_ anything? Don't you think I deserve pancakes in the morning?" I asked pointedly.

When he looked at me, I could tell he was going to reuse his mask that he so often wore with others. "This was the first time I could actually make anything in a long time, Anko-nee took me grocery shopping yesterday and told me it was on my tab." He said as he rubbed the back of his head smiling sheepishly.

I had almost forgotten. The citizens of Konoha treated Naruto much differently than anybody else in the village. Merchants over taxed him if they didn't blow him off altogether, he was pretty much ignored and forgotten about whenever he was in public, and mutterings of monster and demon followed him everywhere he went.

Always being me to the fullest, I persistently asked my fellow clan member why this happened. He told me that its always been like this since birth, everyone looked down on him and never expected anything out of him. In fact, it seemed like the villagers took pleasure in keeping Naruto down.

I then understood the dilemma both of us were facing, on top of also learning the reason behind Naruto's number one goal. Naruto was treated as a pariah for unknown reasons (because oneesan wants to keep secrets now) which lead to him acting as he does, an obnoxious, loudmouthed, prankster who keeps smiling despite the cards life dealt him.

Earning the title of Hokage is my clansman's sole reason for existence. His dream is to be recognized as a person and then be acknowledged of the fact that he deserves to be here. Both of our goals coincided with each other, mine wanting to bring the Uzumaki back to the forefront of the shinobi world, and what better way to show that than to help him sit in the Hokage's seat.

"Karin are you going to keep standing there or are you going to let me finish off these pancakes?" Naruto called out to me.

"Hey don't you dare you greedy ass vacuum!"

**Academy 4:00 p.m. ~**

Boring. The lectures, worksheets, and the worst part, reading shinobi history. Naruto asked about adopting the Nara's catchphrase every day he came to class. If it wasn't for Karin's insistent complaining, the blonde would have probably skipped today, rather getting some actual training done.

Plus there was always time to go to Ichiraku's, especially because he had turned out a certain scarlet headed hard ass and successfully got her addicted to the broth of the gods.

Class was going to be let out in less than thirty minutes, but Naruto's patience has never been known, even he could admit that to himself. At least today was bearable, Sasuke didn't show his pretty boy face so the fan girls were complacent today. When Karin noticed, she just looked down dejected and muttered about not having her daily dose of heaven or something.

Speaking of that teme, Naruto thought about and then realized that Sasuke had been missing class for a few days now. Usually it wouldn't bother him in the slightest if the duck butt was here or not, but everyone, even Naruto heard the grim news about the Uchiha massacre.

Naruto pondered in thought, when Karin spoke of the Uchiha clan and pretty much anything else that had to do with Sasuke she would always give high praise. Since they were a runner up to the throne, Naruto knew they were incredibly strong, which is why he was so damned lost.

If the Uchiha clan was such a dominant force in the shinobi world, how in the hell could only one of their clansmen wipe out the rest of their high caliber shinobi in a night? Not only that, but how could no one in the village hear or at least have some semblance of an idea about what happened that night?

Naruto racked his brain, considering this deep dive of his as an exercise for his mind. Better than listening to Iruka sensei lecture us about stupid samurai. The whiskered academy student then questioned why he himself couldn't hear any cries for help or gasps of death being that he lived near the Uchiha compound.

The old man had introduced his apartment to him when he was six; after having a tough conversation as to why he couldn't live in the orphanage anymore. It became too dangerous, and the last straw was when another orphan that was a couple months older than him thought it was funny to lace his ramen with rat poisoning.

The nurses quietly whispered about how only Naruto could have survived.

They were immediately removed as caretakers and were charged with conspiracy, but he didn't trust anyone with Naruto anymore. Hiruzen was disappointed in the villagers, he couldn't even keep a child safe in a orphanage. .

Quickly dismissing the thought to the back of his mind, Naruto knew that the Uchiha compound was located on the south side of Konoha because that's where he currently lived. It was always common for the blue eyed prankster to see a brown or black headed citizen with a red and white fan on their clothing whenever he walked out of his apartment.

The more he thought about it, the more confused he became which caused literal steam to exit out his ears.

"Naruto, while I appreciate finally having your full attention… your distracting the classmates around you." Mizuki sensei said.

Naruto grinned and said, "Sorry Karin but I gotta go figure something out… peace!" Naruto hopped on top of his desk bringing everybody's attention to him. He then leaped from his desk to the entrance of the classroom where the blonde 'thought' he could escape.

Iruka, ahead of the curb and quite used to Naruto's antics aimed and threw a kunai where Naruto's sleeve _should _have gotten pinned.

What shocked the classroom save one Uzumaki, was the fact that the Naruto that should have been pierced, poofed out of existence. What replaced him was a doll, and from the look of it the small plush doll it looked exactly like Sasuke. Attached was a small note that I read then burned with a harmless Katon jutsu.

My eyes were completely masked behind my glasses. I held onto my plushi Sasuke; firmly clutched in my arms tight. My back turned, and a dark red radiant aura enveloped my body. When I turned my head towards the class's direction, I gazed at them with a murderous expression and eyes that promised a slow death.

Speaking lowly I requested, "Can I be excused from class, I feel sick."

Just as Iruka was about to answer, Mizuki clammed a hand over his mouth and desperately got out, "You are excused Karin, we will make sure that this won't end up on your record either. Get better soon!" the chuunin chuckled out nervously.

I left at 'record'.

"What's going on here sensei!? You're really just going to let them walk all over you like that?" Kiba exclaimed.

"Yea why does little red riding hood get a pass?" Sakura seconded.

"How about you come talk to me when you have Anko Mitarashi as a family member." Iruka paled, thanking Kami for Mizuki's quick save. Whatever happens, they both had to stay on Karin's good side or else the creature known as…

"Who the fuck is Anko Mitarashi!?"

"Stay after class Innuzuka! Now, let's continue the lesson without any more interruptions."

Both sensei's noted that Naruto had just performed Kage Bunshin no jutsu with a note used as a henged adaptation. They both were amazed that Naruto had mastered an A-rank jutsu at such a young age. The brat couldn't perform a solid bunshin when tested a week ago.

Mizuki wondered how in the hell Naruto got his hands on a highly classified jutsu. He knew that particular jutsu couldn't just be learned from just anybody, and that the jutsu could only be found in one place on the village. Looks like the fox brat just got interesting…

**~Uchiha Compound~**

"Heh heh, I bet I surprised everybody! I left them in shock and awe of I, the future Hokage!" Naruto boasted, his hands raised behind his head.

Straight ahead of him was the entrance to the Uchiha compound; yellow tape and many other signs bordering off the territory, clearly declaring, 'DO NOT ENTER'.

Naruto paid no mind to such menial signs, thinking to himself that since Sasuke blew off anything he had to say, it was about time to make things even. He knew the circumstances couldn't compare, yet it didn't bother him in the slightest.

Soot, dried blood stains, burn marks, and rubble covered the Uchiha streets. The shinobi in training was putting his practical skills to use, (thanks to a nagging Karin) silently ducking, dodging, leaping, and sprinting through the compound's infrastructure.

He thought back to his elaborate prank he pulled on Karin, the vision of her reaction made him giddy. Ever since she came into his life, life didn't seem so… pointless. Before her, he had no guidance, no one he could play or talk with, or anyone that he related to.

The orphanage wasn't even a place where he could befriend people that shared the same circumstances as him, no parents and nowhere else to go. They all tricked him, using deception under the guise of friendship. It was something he so desperately needed, and they played on his weakness on a daily basis. The other orphans made him run errands for them, as well as beat the shit out of him whenever they felt the urge. It was nicknamed, 'Hokage training'.

After the rat poisoning, he just didn't understand _why_. Why did everyone in the village loathe him, speak his name in disgust, adults called him a monster when he knew all he was and looked like was a boy. There were only a couple of people that showed him genuine kindness, like the Ichiraku's when he came to their stall one night, malnourished. The restaurant owner and his daughter instantly brought the starving blonde inside and provided all the bowls he needed (about twenty five) free of charge.

Naruto's life had spun a complete one-eighty since he first met the head case. Karin not only gave him family, but a clan. She also gifted him with Anko-nee too, and she was one of the best people to prank because of her hilarious but deadly reactions.

The young Uzumaki now had precious people to grow stronger for, and after so long of his crippling loneliness, he now felt the life-changing emotion he hoped and cried his short life for, being needed by another. Naruto promised himself to always protect Karin no matter the location, day or time. The blonde could never repay his fellow Uzumaki for simply barging into his life.

Objective #1- Find a teme.

Objective #2- Challenge and then pummel a teme.

Objective #3- Interrogate a teme about these annoying questions that couldn't escape his mind.

A certain establishment caught Naruto's eye, so he jumped through the broken window of a rice ball shop. He didn't know much about the onyx eyed bastard, but he figured after countless confrontations that Sasuke shared the same _love_ he had for a piping hot bowls of ramen, but only his was for plain old rice balls.

Surveying the shop, he didn't notice anything in particular. The shop suffered some damage, but it wasn't too bad.

"Oiiiiii Sasuke teme! I'm tired of sneaking around, come out of your brooding shack already!" Naruto impatiently hollered.

He didn't receive an instant reply back, but after a moment a booming explosion came from within the Uchiha's walls. Naruto quickly scurried outside to see what he had just heard, and what awaited the adrenaline pumped blonde was miniature mushroom cloud of smoke.

Naruto grinned at his adversaries' response, figuring Sasuke to show off something flashy like the dick he is. The Uzumaki chased after the smoke, speeding through the closed off ghost of a compound. The cloud signal took Naruto away from the buildings and to a forest area with docks and a massive lake.

Before he could even land, dozens of shuriken flashed forward and caught the hot headed blonde off guard. Without wasting a second Naruto immediately made hand sign and another whiskered Naruto grabbed his arm and propelled him out of harm's way.

Gathering his bearings, Naruto managed to raise his head before his cheek got punted by a small but deadly pale foot.

Naruto could only grin in response, "Someone's a little feisty today huh?"


	5. Why was I Born into such a Dark World?

_Chapter5:_

**Why was I Born into such a Dark World?**

Kicking back to his feet, Naruto looked directly into Sasuke's dilated red and black pupils. The raven haired adolescents face expressed a type of hatred Naruto had never seen before. Of course the expression wasn't foreign, he was the most despised and hated child in Konoha after all. He could teach a fucking class on the multiple distinct levels of hatred and their varying physical and verbal consequences. That, and the lonely jinchuriki struggles with his own tortuous self-loathing on a day-to-day basis.

Naruto immediately realized that the emotionally unbalanced Uchiha's unhinged rage wasn't meant for him. It was meant for the bastard that pushed Sasuke to this point, and boy did he not envy him.

In fact, Naruto didn't want to the punching bag for his unrelenting hatred either, so instead of taking the normal Naruto approach, the blonde dived into the angsty Uchiha's rage filled auburn orbs and spoke his truth.

"I'm not going to pretend to understand the hell you're suffering in right now, I never really had a family to begin with." Naruto solemnly began.

Before he got a chance to continue, a fist carved itself into Naruto's whiskered cheek and sent him dazed crashing into a tree. The impact of the crash broke Naruto's left arm and left rib while tree bark splintered his back.

"DO YOU THINK I WANNA HEAR YOUR LIFE STORY?" Sasuke brutally and bluntly questioned. His hands shot up to form a tiger seal, and his demeanor was one of a mad man. Naruto barely had the strength to move, but he slowly picked his face up from the hard and grimy dirt, and raised his head to see rage, sorrow, and hatred in its purest form.

"DO YOU HONESTLY THINK I GIVE A FUCK ABOUT YOU AND YOUR OWN PATHETIC LIFE!? WE'RE NOT RELATABLE SO STOP TRYING TO UNDERSTAND ME. YOU NEVER WILL… NO ONE EVER WILL!"

Without wasting another breath, the last Uchiha finished forming the seals to his clan's most notorious ninjutsu and screamed… "**Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"**

A colossal ball of scorching hot fire escaped the maniacal child's lips and seared towards Naruto's beaten and bloodied form. It took all of Naruto's remaining strength to strain... "I want to understand your pain because… your eyes look just like mine."

Before Sasuke could even get the chance regret his decision, an unwrapped scroll appeared in the air directly in front of Naruto with a written seal on it. The instant the flames licked the scroll, the seal glowed an ethereal blue and proceeded to operate like a vacuum.

It sucked in the powerful fireball like it was its lunch and when done vanished like it was never there.

"Look at you two idiots, is this any way to act like shinobi? You two bring shame to Konoha." I said, finally making my presence known.

Sasuke looked outstandingly livid, very different from the brooding hunk I had feelings for.

"What did you say?" he whispered in a darkly low tone. He faced downward as if the ground was going to respond back.

"Tch. I don't usually repeat myself but I'll make an exception considering the situation," My scarlet red eyes pierced his form and no longer did my personal feelings for him cloud my judgement.

Regardless of the circumstances, I would be damned if his little temper tantrum about the death of his clan was going to cost me that last of my mine.

"You're a disgrace as a potential Konoha shinobi, and you have shamed your family's name. Believe me when I say I don't give a shit about your dead clan, especially when you attempt to kill mine!" I spit.

"You haven't even reached the meat of the true pain that is loss. You're clearly bawling your eyes out and for what, only after a couple of days? Imagine those long days become agonizingly long months, and then turn into what feels like centuries."

Clicking my tongue I continued, "You're lucky you still have the image of your mother, remember her voice and her scent. Her coming to your room every morning was probably what you looked forward to the most every day, you could never get tired of it. I bet you wish she was holding you right now, telling you everything you needed to hear. IF YOU STILL HAVE THOSE MEMORIES THEN YOU KNOW DAMN WELL SHE WOULD LOOK DOWN ON THE WAY YOU'RE DUMBASS IS ACTING!"

I was directly in his face now. The emotions that I refused to give life has now manifested and it honestly felt too good to stop. My hands grabbed at his navy blue collar and I spit, "If you ever want to survive this, you need to find your reason for living and get your shit together. Then and only then do you get to lash out, at least you'll be a psycho with a purpose."

No longer was Sasuke's face filled with endless rage and contempt. His hair cast a shadow over his eyes. The dark clouds that now covered the sky poured down and the rain blended in with his tears. I dropped him to the ground and walked towards Naruto. Sparing him a glance I looked back to see his will broke, and his eyes lost. I turned my head back around and continued walking to my cousin, thinking about what type of resolve he would find within himself.

The blonde boy hadn't said a word, only listened to the words that Karin had spoken. He thought to himself as he noticed her walk over to him, what a fucked up word to be born into. Not even a decade of life and he was fed up with the concept already.

"You ready to go home?" I asked, extending my arm out. The short blonde doofus gave me one of the most brightest and sincere smiles that I've ever seen from him. A shame he has to get what's coming to him, but surely he knew I wouldn't forget that embarrassing incident from earlier.

While extending his arm Naruto simultaneously lifted his body so I could lift him up, but my arm fell as soon as his neared it and Naruto's face planted itself in the moist and muddy soil.

Bending down to his level I breathed into his ear, "Your hasnt even started. Your going to finally learn not to keep fucking with me. You certainly are becoming bolder, but your ass is _really_ mine now." I chuckled while I backed away from the little sunflower.

Thinking back on this event, the only thing left for me to say was "Idiots".

**~ The Next Day ~**

It was going to be another amusing day in class. I knew that the moment I say the 'mighty_'_ last Uchiha walk through the classroom door. Sasuke's fangirls fawned at the sight of him as expected, and when I looked at him to study his behavior he seemed to be staring at Naruto intently. He smirked deviously to himself and then announced to the class,

"I have an announcement. Once I have killed the coward who murdered my clan, I will resurrect the Uchiha and establish it as the #1 clan by earning the title of Hokage." The bastard then had the gall to look in my direction and finish by threatening, "anyone who gets in my way can drop dead."

The nerve, the audacity of this arrogant Uchiha dick. To think I once planned on uniting our two clans by marriage and becoming the strongest family in all of the elemental nations. How foolish I was, I can't stand him let alone think of sharing space with him.

Before I could make a scene, Naruto beat me to it. "OI! What the hell are you on about it teme! Ya know it's me who's going to be Hokage! Stop messing around and sit down already." Naruto said with extreme irritation in his tone.

"Hmph. How could a pathetic loser like you even think of becoming anything more than a genin? Your chances of even achieving that is slim, how about you stop talking out your ass for once and succumb to the inevitable." Sasuke said with a pristine amount of conceitedness.

Naruto raised then slammed his foot on the desk and shouted, "Let's take this outside!"

"And why would I do that? What drastically changed from yesterday for you to think it won't be a repeat of the beating I gave you baka?" the onyx eyed boy shrugged.

"Simple, you just caught me by surprise yesterday. Today's going to be totally different dattebayo!" Naruto firmly declared.

The pissed off blonde leapt from his desk to the ground floor and was just about to make his way out the door until one forgotten man's hand reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck.

Suddenly, a condensed and heavy pressure flooded all of my senses. The type of presence that I honestly never expected would ever come from such a kind hearted soul.

"Do my students not hold an inch of respect for their sensei!?" Iruka sensei asked both guilty parties.

Both guilty parties looked at their sensei like he was the last thing on either academy student's mind. A nuisance if anything else.

"I'll stay after class Iruka-sensei, so just let me and that pasty faced bastard leave." Naruto said with a growl in his tone. Iruka was baffled, he hadn't known Naruto to have such anger, but it then clicked for the scarred face chuunin why Naruto would volunteer to suffer one of hisdetentions.

Sasuke, the poor child who just recently had lost _everything _to his own older brother no less, challenged Naruto's Uzumaki dream. If he were to he be honest it had seemed like the boy's sole reason for living before Karin arrived.

Iruka knew this situation was no trivial matter, as did I. In actuality you could say it was something both of those boy's needed, so they could at least have one sole light navigating them through their own respective unrelenting ocean's that was hatred.

It didn't surprise me when the tanned chuunin let Naruto go and only nodded his head with closed eyes and his arms folded.

Sakura, Ino, and the rest of the girls that made up the Sasuke's fan club cried at the chance to see their Uchiha hero wipe the floor with the notorious prankster. Iruka nipped that shit right in the bud with the activation of his giant head no jutsu which quickly shut them all up.

I also thought about secretly leaving myself in order to watch the bout, but considering my actions from the day prior I was acting too much like a concerned mother hen than a cousin to that blonde idiot. Don't get me wrong, yesterday I had a worthy reason to chase after my yellow headed clansmen, but today was different. It was more akin to curiosity than anything else.

Today, I'm going to let him pick up his scraped knees from off the ground and let him take himself home. I thought of it as a good lesson, 'don't bite off more than you can chew', though I highly doubt my clansmen will actually bear any fruit from it considering he should still be recovering from the injuries post last night.

Besides, I found something exceptionally more intriguing than watching a pair of knuckleheads fight over trivial testosterone induced conflicts. My curiosity was seriously outweighing my patience. Thank Kami for the sunny haired ninja in trainings unpredictable habits, the events that transpired yesterday and today will lead to me to figure out the enigma that is Naruto Uzumaki.

~ **After class ~**

Watching my naïve classmate's ramble and carrying on as they filtered outside of the classroom, I alone stayed behind. It was a blessing in disguise that Mizuki-sensei was absent today, now I could have some much needed alone time with the man who could potentially give me answers to questions I've been trying to learn ever since migrating to Konoha.

It seemed that Iruka may have realized my intentions as well because he breathed out a long and tired sigh.

"What is it Karin? I have more work to attend to." Iruka exasperated.

"This will be quick Iruka sensei, I just have a couple of questions that have been plaguing me and they can't seem to just go away. You might be one of the only people _willing_ to satiate my curiosity."

"Karin, get to the point. Like I said I'm busy so I really can't stay long." Iruka frustratingly groaned.

Of course he didn't mind answering any of her questions, it was one of his main priorities as an educator to teach and supply his students with all the resources he could give. The more or less irritating problem was that he wasn't talking to just any one of his students.

This was _Karin_, by far the most intelligent student in his class. He would even go so far as to say that she was a prodigy in her own right, the only reason she wasn't titled as such was because of her former status as an outsider.

When I looked at the ponytailed chuunin my red eyes were covered by the glint of light reflected off of my glasses. The sun was setting on the horizon changing the room's colors from a bright yellow to a mellow and dark orange. Our shadows become longer as well, each minute extending our shadow's height into giants spread across the classroom.

"Why did you let Naruto and Sasuke just leave in the middle of class, that wasn't very professional of you was it? You didn't even go through with their punishments."

Iruka rolled his eyes, expecting more from Karin than to act in jealousy. "Uzumaki, we both know you're too intelligent not to understand why I would let Sasuke off the hook today. What that boy has gone through… I'm sure you of all people would understand." Iruka responded.

"True, If I were in your position I would have let the Uchiha brood until his heart was content," I placed my hand on my hip and raised my drifting glasses. I spoke in my signature all-knowing tone, "but why Naruto? Why let him leave, what does he have to do with Sasuke?"

When his brown eyes diverted away from my person, I knew I had him cornered.

"What about Naruto made it acceptable in your eyes to let him leave, but more importantly, why the hell is he hated by so many in this village? What has he done to deserve all of that animosity, to receive all of those murderous glares from people who shouldn't even know him!?"

Iruka's earlier hypothesis proved correct, Karin is well beyond her years. Admittedly he was shocked and proud of her observation skills, but more than that he knew he was fucked. Especially when the crimson haired intellect followed up with,

"Before you try and shirk your way out of this, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Besides, in order to attain information one must give right? I have inherited an ability of my clan to sense chakra signatures. It doesn't require hand seals if what I'm sensing is within my eyesight. The caveat to this ability is I can also feel an individual's emotions if I focus my chakra while maintaining chakra control. Imagine my surprise when I felt tremendous waves of sympathy not only for Sasuke… but for Naruto as well."

This was it, checkmate.

If that old geezer of a Hokage won't answer less entertain any of my probing questions there must be a good ass reason to why. Which made it all the more unbearable.

I will learn about why Naruto has to suffer whatever it was, so he won't have to suffer it alone anymore.

Waiting for his response, I noticed his once stiff shoulders slack and a smirk comes across his face.

"Our Hokage truly is a genius, how could he have already seen this play out?" Iruka said while stretching.

That statement made a vein swell, so this was all according to plan you old shit. Couldn't have just told me outright? Nooooo you just had to play these shitty games huh?

"Karin Uzumaki, what I am about to confide to you is something that should not be uttered outside of this room. What I am about to tell you is an S-rank confidential village knowledge that ever leak, will be punishable by death. Do you understand?" The scarred chuunin stated bluntly.

I only nodded, more confused than before and my patience at the end of its heel.

~ **Later that Evening ~**

This was the first time I was ever hesitant knocking on Naruto's apartment door. The hesitation didn't come from nervousness or sadness, no it stemmed from the unbridled anger I held for these worthless scum we call civilians. How could such a large group of people all be this stupid? Did they not know what a blessing Naruto was? How he had saved them from imminent destruction? Fuck, my head hurts from the information overload, questions, and monologues currently taking place in my head all at one time.

I didn't know how to approach him, and I honestly had no idea of how I was going to tell him that his hero, the Fourth Hokage, sealed the most powerful bijuu into his gut that was responsible for his (well our) village's destruction. It was sort of a mind-fuck when you thought about it.

I knew it wasn't going to be easy to understand, or even live with but that's why I'm here. We're family, and I'm going to make sure he knows even if he doesn't have anyone else, I will always be there for that blonde idiot because I wholeheartedly know he holds that same unconditional love for me as well.

This warm and caring feeling overwhelmed my being; it felt so natural to keep that infectious smile on his face, especially at times like these.

I knocked on his door softly at first. Didn't know why I would when the Uzumaki only responds to loud noises anyway. Instead of knocking again I kicked the door open to a scene that made my mind shut down. It was currently being rebooted.

This shouldn't have been possible. No, this is too much fathom, this shouldn't be able to occur in any reality or dimension. How the hell did this make sense? Has the world ended? Is this really the end?

While I kept staring blankly at the sight in front of me it was the source of my lapse of reality that spoke, "Karin if you're just going to keep standing there then leave. It's getting cold."

"AND WHY THE HELL ARE YOU SO COMFORTABLE HERE UCHIHA!? NARUTO EXPLAIN WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!"


	6. The Next Step

_Chapter 6:_

** The Next Step**

_(Flashback)_

"Copycat motherfucker thinks he can just steal my dream. MY DREAM. Why the hell can't I have just _one_ thing to myself?" Naruto huffed.

Sasuke was trailing behind Naruto with an unreadable expression. Naruto could not get the guy, he was proving to be even more unpredictable than himself.

"Why do you think you can just do anything you damn well please? Selfish Uchiha bastard. You already have the avenger shtick, do me a favor and drop mine so I don't have to waste any of my shuriken and kunai."

Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto impassively. Giving the traditional Uchiha response that only served to piss him off even more (It served its purpose).

Naruto was seriously fed up with this bastard. Thinks he's hot shit because he snuffed him then fired off his giant fireball of death jutsu without any lick of remorse. Then there's what Sasuke screeched back at him after only trying to share his own pain with someone who obviously could relate.

He knew the scar was fresh but who the hell expected almost getting roasted alive just for attempting to console? Naruto decided that was the last time he was going to give his kindness to just anybody. If it was going to cause him this much strife he'd save the trouble. Not to mention he definitely had to pay him back for those fractured bones and broken ribs he had to sleep off.

For too long has Sasuke Uchiha gone unchecked and for far much longer has he felt too comfortable disrespecting the Uzumaki. It was time to see who was actually stronger.

Because Iruka-sensei is always so strict, class spars were overseen with harsh rules. Use of chakra is forbidden, ninja tools are forbidden, and cheap tricks like striking someone's privates were heavily frowned upon.

Both Naruto and Sasuke felt that the academy in itself was a boring institution. If it wasn't required to become shinobi they honestly would just train by themselves where they could actually see themselves progress.

Funny, Naruto couldn't even hold a flame to Sasuke in terms of talent or skill until Karin came along.

Silently dying through her frightening rigorous lessons, Naruto's vocabulary and overall literacy exceeded even her expectations, though it was still a major hassle to get the blonde to focus and take his studies seriously. Still, now he had the ability to actually learn for himself, take his training into his own hands right after Karin set the foundation.

Naruto smirked to himself, Sasuke has no clue who he _really_ pissed off.

The battleground Naruto was leading them towards was the Forest of Death, the place he felt the most comfortable to let loose and could make full use of his skills.

When the two finally arrived, Naruto smiled and beckoned for Sasuke to follow him. They leaped into a heavy forested canopy of trees. Below they spotted a few of the deadly beasts that inhabited this forest. It wasn't until Naruto spotted one of his favorite clearings that they landed and he started to stretch. Sasuke then decided to actually speak.

"Why do you want to become Hokage so badly? Your dream, how do you continue to always talk about it like it's easily attainable? How could you undoubtedly believe in your goal when even you know it has a ninety-ninety percent chance of failing?"

As Sasuke questioned the young shinobi, the raven haired academy student's face showed that he was struggling to grasp something. Like it was on the tip of his tongue yet he still couldn't quite understand it.

"Your resolve...I'm going to test if your bite is as pathetically desperate as your bark. Naruto… don't you dare hold back."

Sasuke then settled into his own taijutsu stance, breath paced and his eyes focused.

Naruto bent his knees and positioned his feet. His arms were raised at his sides while he wore a warrior's determination for battle.

"Took the words right out of my mouth. Ain't a chance in hell I'm gonna lose. Especially if you out of all people are challenging my claim to the Hokage's hat and chair."

A shadow clone of Naruto walked to the middle of the clearing. He raised his arm, closed his eyes then yelled…

"Hajime!"

_**Sasuke**_

Naruto immediately dug his hand inside his brown pouch and launched a kunai with three paper bombs stringed along to it.

I retreated back to the trees to create some distance. Behind me I heard, "Payback bitch!" And Naruto, who was propelled by another Naruto quickly closed the distance between his foot and my face. Touching the nearest thing to me, I used substitution jutsu.

The clone that targeted me free fell to the floor while crying, "DAMNNN ITTT!"

Baka. But still, I didn't expect Naruto to have an A ranked jutsu under his belt. I _suppose_ I could have underestimated the blonde ramen for brains. Whatever, now it was my turn.

I jumped from branch to branch, all the way until I reached the very top. Pumping chakra into my calf muscles, I leaped towards the sky while making hand seals.

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" **

I widely dispersed the flame making it extremely difficult to block, dodge, or escape.

When I began my descent I skillfully and acrobatically landed back into the clearing, the only thing that wasn't currently covered in flames.

"HEY ASSHOLE! Why the hell would you start a fucking a forest fire?!" My eyes grew significantly wider. There were about a hundred Naruto's ranting and cursing all around me. How the fuck did I not see all of them when I was in the air? Unless he purposely waited until I landed to surround me.

"Who the hell has that much chakra?" I responded.

All of the shadow clones went silent and only one of them said, "How about you use your little Uchiha eyes and find out teme."

Before I got a chance too, all of Naruto's rushed to attack me, and all I could do was defend and take them out one by one.

He wasn't giving me any time to think. I couldn't strategize a way out, there were far too many, and pretty soon my already diminishing energy was going to run out. Using another katon jutsu was too risky because it took entirely too much chakra, no thanks to my tiny frame. The only other jutsu I do have wasn't going to put a dent in this horde.

Wait… am I really being overpowered? By Naruto? No, that couldn't be possible, not if I was going to be the one that was going to kill Itachi. Not if I was going to bring the Uchiha's name from the mud to the most respected.

I'm not going to waste my time losing here, or ever again. Not when that sick fuck is one of the most notorious S-ranked rouged shinobi in all of the elemental nations. With a goal like that, how could I ever live with myself if I lost here!?

_**Naruto**_

"Hahaha! Serves you right for burning my favorite training ground. Man, who would have thought that this would so eas-," Before I could get my last syllable out my entire body froze. I knew I didn't share Karin's chakra sensing ability but, I swore I could literally feel Sasuke's chakra spike. With that carried a very intense feeling.

I was proven right when dozens of my clones were now being dispersed relentlessly. Each image that popped into my brain showed the raven haired adolescent moving with speed he previously did not have.

Red eyes were fiercely shown constantly looking in every direction, and Sasuke seemed to know what my clone's moves were before they had the complete chance to even make them. Shuriken, were thrown with from his left hand every other five seconds while he slashed with a kunai in his right.

He kicked, punched, cut, and bombed the majority of my clones in about under a minute, killing about forty-nine out of fifty.

He was breathing heavily, legs were shaking, and bleeding from cuts from quite a few places. Looking directly at me, he smirked, "Is that all you got?"

I was drained. My chakra was running on low, probably about enough for a substitution jutsu at best. In spite of all that I only grinned.

"Stop acting all cool, imma finally wipe that cocky smirk off your face!"

We both took a step forward, then another step, and another until we were both sprinting at each other with full force.

Yelling out my final battle cry I stuffed my fist into his cheek and he carved his into my gut.

_**General**_

They both collapsed to the ground on the opposite side of each other, each inhaling painful breath after another.

It was weird for two people who had so much animosity for each other five seconds ago now to be smiling after a battle that was officially scored as a tie.

"All my life I had to fight, whether it was for food, shelter, hell even for a sign from Kami to show my existence was worth fighting for. When you don't have anyone to share your feelings and dreams with, you tend not have anything aspire to be or anyone to live for. I had nothing to define my existence, besides people's obvious hate for me."

Sasuke never expected a version of Naruto that could be deep. Guess he really is that unpredictable.

"It actually really started to piss me off, so much that one day I decided to make the motherfuckers in this village that despised me acknowledge me. And if I was going to somehow manage to change the minds of all these stubborn assholes, I figured why not adorn the Hokage's cap and sit my ass in that comfy Hokage chair as my trophies. So yea I'm going to say every day I'll be the Hokage because when I do I can't wait to see their shitty faces."

Sasuke could tell Naruto was still smiling, and if he was to look upon the blondes face it indeed showed a sadistic grin that seemed to rejuvenate him.

They were both fighting to achieve unrealistic dreams, and the people of the world who decided to dare and say that they were unattainable could stand back, fuck themselves, and watch.

"Naruto, do you have any rice balls?" Sasuke out of the blue asked the blonde.

"Yea, a couple why? Hey don't think I forgave you for lighting up the forest. DO YOU KNOW who will come murder my ass because of you? No, because your head is too far up your own ass to," Sasuke cut him off, "You still haven't realized it was a genjutsu? And I was just starting to think you weren't as stupid as thought you were."

Naruto could only stay silent and fume at himself for not catching on sooner.

"Let's go I'm hungry."

Naruto surprisingly didn't retaliate, instead he slowly groaned and got up. Giving Sasuke a hand, the Uchiha took it and raised himself back to his feet.

_(Present)_

_**Karin**_

"So let me get this straight. You two idiots fought, lost to each other, got hungry and came back here to eat."

"Pretty much."

I raised my hand to my temple to massage the migraine they gave me. It still didn't make sense but, figuring out the male species was an impossible task I wasn't going to pick up.

I breathed out a frustrated sigh and remembered the reason why I decided to come here anyway.

"Look, you can start your disgusting bromance some other time alright. I have something important to tell you Naruto. And it's something the Uchiha can't stay here for, so go home and raid your own fridge Sasuke."

Naruto nodded to Sasuke and the boy only shrugged and made his exit.

"So, what is it Karin? What's so damn important?"

Not knowing how to handle any situation delicately, I simply told him the best way I could.

"Lift your shirt and channel your chakra." I commanded.

Confused, he followed my instructions and looked down to an intricate sign formula on his belly.

"What the hell, how did you know that was on me!?"

"Quite frankly I'm surprised you didn't know yourself. Ever heard of a mirror?"

"I'm seven, why would I care about looking at myself naked?" Naruto retorted.

I continued telling Naruto about his secret, knowing myself to be drastically more mature than any of the other kids my age. Especially this baka.

"That seal was placed on you on the day of your birth. The Fourth Hokage never killed the Kyuubi, as it's impossible to truly kill any bijuu. It's a massive manifestation of chakra after all. The only option he was left with was to sacrifice himself by sealing the demon inside you and making you its jailor. Naruto Uzumaki, you are the true hero of October tenth, and all of these idiot villagers who decided that you were anything but that are utter fools."

The blonde sat in silence with his head down. That empty silence carried for a long time, long enough for Karin to find a seat and for the sun to set enough to shine its indigo hue through Naruto's window.

I didn't know what I could possibly do or say to him in this situation. All of my determination and bravado I previously held was now gone, drowned out by the silence.

I wish he would just let me in, but his mouth wouldn't move a muscle. It was like staring into the eyes of a doll, but I knew what raged behind those eyes from experience; it must have been hell.

Awkwardly, I got up and lifted his chin so I could stop the multiple conspiracy theories floating in my head about what he was thinking. The tears that greeted me almost made me choke, his face held _so much pain_.

Instead of doing anymore useless thinking, I let my body move on its own and maneuvered both myself and him into a position to where his spiky blonde mane was now resting on my lap. When his oceanic blue eyes looked up into my deep scarlet's, I felt everything. Without using my jutsu or any of my chakra, I shared in his pain and anguish as he resonated with mine.

After what seemed like hours, his hoarse and throaty voice asked me, "How do you know?"

"I leanred everything from Iruka-sensei, but… the Third Hokage is the primary reason you were never told anything."

His eyes widened at my response, and those blue eyes turned right back into those dull maroon dusk's. Is this how I looked when I was in Kusa, a lifeless corpse that gave up life to near dead ones? I didn't realize how much I treasured his natural and radiant sapphires until right at this very moment.

"Naruto, this doesn't really change anything. I mean yes, you do have a walking catastrophe sealed inside your stomach, and yes the Third Hokage is going to get what he deserves in due time, but you finally know _why_."

I knew the blonde container was listening by the way his ears twitched at Hokage.

"What are you going to do now?" I quietly asked. I secretly hope not too much of Naruto would change. After my kaa-san was killed, I was never the same again. They stole the last of my innocence, I pray to Kami that I didn't take the last of Naruto's.

"No Karin, something has changed… I refuse to be ignorant anymore. You were right before, I should have noticed something so obvious. I still can't believe I didn't catch on sooner. The clues were in front of my face the whole time. I mean October 10th, "little demon", what fucking else did I need?!" His voice elevated.

"If I'm ever going to be Hokage I've got to learn how to see underneath the underneath. I won't be fooled so easily again, not ever."

Tch, making me worry like that. He never fails to surprise me. Instead of succumbing to the hate, he used it as fuel for his already blazing fire. We're not even shinobi but this idiot already surpassed me. Not that I expected anything less but still. Considering how long it took me to find light in my abyss of loneliness, my cousin proved to be stronger than me in recovering from that tortuous pain.

I wasn't going to give up to him, we haven't even took the first step to our dreams. I'm an Uzumaki after all, I wasn't going to shame all of our ancestors by debasing myself like that.

_**~TimeSkip~**_

"Here are your team assignments, **Team 7: **Uzumaki Naruto, Haru**-**,"

Dear Kami in Heaven what the is that immense monstrous chakra? It feels just like Karin, anyone could just tell by looking at her. The usual straight side of her hair was now wild, and her overwhelming chakra visually emanated from her body.

Her chakra was astral red, and it came off of her powerful and wild. She gave me a nasty look that said, "I think you should reconsider or else."

CALM DOWN IRUKA, she's only a fresh green genin. Even if she was incredibly terrifying at the moment, he wasn't going to fuck himself over because she's having a hissy fit for not being placed on Naruto's team. Saukra being on the team most definitely added insult to injury.

Alright, now calm he can get back to-

WHAT IN THE FUCK IS THAT!?

NO… he knew that chakra from his nightmares. Iruka could never forget _this _chakra. This chakra pressure that takes hold and paralyzes his nerves and endlessly tormented his soul. That sadistic smile, those malicious amber eyes, why in the hell was he feeling that awful chakra?

Wait a second, _Karin_ must have known all of the team assignments, refused them, and prepared just for this moment. He knew it sounded insane, but the one thing you don't do in this life is underestimate an Uzumaki.

That _woman_ must be here watching, and she's waiting for me to slip in front of her. That's why she flared her chakra, to see if he had the balls to go through with it while in her presence. It was like a snake waiting its prey to make one false move before it attacks. Iruka was asking Kami why put him in this life or death situation over something so trivial?

The scarred sensei needed to recover mentally, he was shaming himself in front of his graduate class, and he needed to make his decision quickly.

"Ahem. Uzumaki Naruto, (I'm sorry Lord Third. I'm weak) Uzumaki Karin, And Uchiha Sasuke."

It was over, but his own self torment continued.

"Mah, you're so mean, you didn't have to scare Iruka-sensei shitless in front of everyone. Even I can show mercy Karin." The now blonde genin said in defense of his favorite sensei.

"It doesn't matter, we are rightfully on the same team now, no thanks needed. Did Hokage-sama really think I would let that insult pass, he should have known better." Karin said with her usual snarky tone.

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I was going to be on a team with Sakura-chan, you really know how to ruin shit you know that?"

"You think I care, the day I let that pink monkey on our team is the day I forsake my family name."

"And you have the audacity to call me dramatic." Naruto teased.

"Whatever, it's finally time to get started, I expect us to reach our goals soon Naruto. So don't hold me back." Karin smirked.

"Ya know you have a real annoying habit of taking the words right out of my mouth." Naruto grinned.

They bumped their fists and both declared, "For the Uzumaki clan."

_**Q&A**_

**thor94: **Naruto will dive deep into his Uzumaki bloodline in regards to abilities, but he won't just be a walking copycat of his parents. While in canon he leaned more towards his Namikaze roots more than Uzumaki, in this story he's going to have pride in being more Kushina's son than Minato's.

**KormK: **Me neither bro, hated how she got her panties wet every time Sasuke made a different face. You won't have to worry about that pairing from me.

**Wolfy wanna bite: **My feelings are hurt, how you could think I would write anything like that. I already told you in my Author's bio that's not happening, plus their kids.


	7. Introductions

_Chapter 7:_

**Introductions**

It was as if the Hokage specifically hand crafted this team for him. He reread the tantalizing scroll one more time in order to make sure his eye didn't deceive him. Then again to validate his new forming conspiracies.

When the Jonin first received the scroll, he found it odd that the Hokage would use one of his own summoning's to deliver what he assumed to be this year's team assignments.

His first thought was that since he was already told that Naruto was going to be on the team, perhaps the Third wanted to ensure that the delivery of the scroll would find its way to him without any hindrances. It never hurt to be too cautious, especially when Naruto is involved, but he also knew the sentimental Hokage to have a great deal of trust in his village.

Which was why it now made sense. If any other great nation managed to acquire any form of knowledge about the occupants of this new team and its frightening amount of elite shinobi potential; the smoky-grey haired man ran his hand through his hair and leaned back for a tired sigh. He could understand why the Raikage and even the Tsuchikage wanted to kidnap the Leaf's clan children.

As it stands, Konoha produces once in a lifetime geniuses on a regular basis. Whether it came to medical ninjutsu, ninjutsu specialists, battle, analysis, etc. With every generation we pump out well competent and talented shinobi into our ranks. Aliases like the Yellow Flash, or even himself, the copycat ninja strikes that 'oh shit, this just might be my last battle' type of fear into most enemy shinobi. Mind you, they aren't members of any known clan, which make up the majority of the shinobi of Konoha.

Kakashi ingrained each of the kid's faces, abilities, mental evaluations, personality quirks, and test scores all into his head. He could have burned the scroll now if he wanted to, because there wasn't any chance in hell that he was going to forget an inkling about them. He had a gut feeling that this team would figure out the real meaning behind his notorious test and pass to be his fresh patch of green genin to torture.

It's been a long time since he felt so excited, it made him quite nostalgic, but this time it was going to be different. He'd rather be sent to suffer in hell without his late teammates, sensei, and parents then to ever witness one of his comrades be killed in front of him ever again.

The reminiscent shinobi raised his hand to feel the cloth under his headband that was covering his left eye dampen, as well as his facemask.

"Damn it, Kakashi get it together." He chastised himself while impulsively reaching out for his favorite green book.

_**~Karin~**_

So they chose him out of all people huh? Going off of my own knowledge of him, he's supposed to be one of Konoha's most versatile and dangerous shinobi. The fact that he has a sharingan obviously means that he was handpicked to be the sensei of our team. Honestly, who else but the infamous copycat ninja could teach Sasuke no baka how to use his own sharingan? (That was in bad taste)

So far, the only thing I've seen Sasuke accomplish with his sharingan is reading and predicting my movements in order to easily find a counter to any one of my strikes. Other than that annoying accuracy, and small scale genjutsu that can only really affect Naruto, he hasn't covered much ground yet.

In regards to my own training, I've stayed on top of my clan's teachings and have studied heavily in fuinjutsu. When I first made the decision, I remembered my kaa-san whispering bedtime stories about the Uzumaki clan's legendary art of sealing. She told tales of sealing gigantic beasts into humans and how only those who carry Uzumaki blood could master the skill. She once said that she wished she had the talent for it herself and joked about how that gene must have skipped her and was passed on to me.

I threatened Naruto into coming to the library with me so that he too could start learning our clan's prized art of sealing.

It took much more time than I wanted for the blonde Uzumaki to find his interest in fuinjutsu. What finally hooked his attention was the possibility of being able to summon one of his own ninja animals or 'talking pets' in his own words.

Once he made the decision on the animal, he would take fuinjutsu more seriously he told me. It took great willpower not to show him my pissed off facial expression I was hiding under my façade. Whenever he saw that he was successful in riling me up, he only wanted to piss me off even more right until I reached my boiling point.

"Hold on I got this. **Reverse Sexy no Jutsu: Uchiha Remix!**"

One loud pop later, and in front of my impressionable eyes were three different men with jet black hair, naked bodies, defined torsos, and seductive looks on their faces.

"Ne, why aren't you paying attention to us Kariiin?" They all chorused with their deep and smooth tones.

"I ugh… Naru… Sasu… fuck it." And that was the story of how I had found out my nose had so much strength that it managed to propel me off the ground from a nosebleed.

"Who told you that you could use the Uchiha for your perverted jutsu baka?" Sasuke rhetorically asked while hammering his fist in the back of said prankster in question.

"Itai! Why is it that you guys can't ever let me finish a prank? Is it punishment, are you guys in love, someone's gotta tell me something!" Naruto whined out to an unapologetic audience.

Coming down from my own arousal, I glared at Naruto with bloody murder raging behind each cornea. He shrugged and pointed forward.

"Ahem. As I was saying, let's start off with an introduction. From what I can see you three must know each other pretty well, so instead of sharing likes or hobbies, I want you to tell me your dreams." He took a pause.

I noticed that his chakra stilled as if it froze, and that inner tension came off of him in waves.

"When you earned your hiate, you also earned all of the privileges that come along with it. Meaning that no one is going to treat you like your kids anymore. From this day forward you're going to be seen as Konoha shinobi, and you bear the responsibility of putting your life on the line for the sake of the village and more importantly its citizens."

"So, I want to know what your driving force was. What is it that makes you think you're ready to take on the life of endurance? Let's start with the kid who thinks I'm a cyclops." He voiced in a light tone.

"Yo! The name is Uzumaki Naruto, and my dream is to become Hokage. I want every single person in this village that didn't acknowledge me to look up at my stone rock face and think to themselves, 'I still can't believe he actually became the Hokage.' I also want to save a couple princesses, start a couple revolutions, and cement the Uzumaki name in the history books." the blonde finished.

He really needs to get over his hero fetish. I swear to Kami he thinks being a shinobi is like being a hero like in that manga Katanagatari.

"Alright, next up is broody boy."

"Tch (asshole). My name is Uchiha Sasuke. What I have isn't a dream, but an ambition. I will kill a certain man who doesn't deserve a name, and resurrect the Uchiha back from the ashes. For that reason I will endure anything and everything to see that my ambition becomes reality." Sasuke morbidly finished.

"Maaa Sasuke I bet you rehearsed that in the mirror didn't you?" Naruto grinned cheekily.

"Shut up before I add you to that list baka."

"You've been on my list Sasuke."

"If you two are done with your lovers spat," I giggled, Naruto and Sasuke both glared, and I raised a middle finger.

"I'll introduce myself. My name is Kakashi Hatake, and my dream is to never let a comrade die in front of me… ever again." Kakashi stated evenly, although I did sense a fluctuation in his chakra when those words escaped his lips.

"Let's finish this with you red."

"I see you saved the best for last. I'll give you some points for having good intuition. Anyway, I'm Uzumaki Karin, and until I exhale my last breath, my goal is to revive the Uzumaki clan to its former glory and then some. I guess you could say that putting Naruto in the Hokage's seat correlates with my goal as well. Also, to protect all things precious to me, regardless of preconceived notions of good or bad. And for my goal, I will sacrifice even myself to accomplish it." I surmised. Didn't have to be extremely lengthy seeing as they got to the point rather quickly.

"Now, since introductions are out of the way, I now know each of your motivations to endure as shinobi. I also happen to be a messenger of good news, seeing as you three are already well acquainted and already have the skills necessary to operate C rank missions; we will have our first group training session today."

"And how would you know our skills are exceptional enough to pass D rank." I curiously asked; arms folded.

"Well, the Third Hokage of course." He said with an overly eager tone and his lone eye smiling.

Of course it was, it was always that old monkey.

"Originally, genin who pass the provisional 'academy' exam are assigned a jonin instructor and each respective team is given a second exam. But, since you three are deemed worthy enough to surpass any test thrown your way, the Hokage has given permission to have you immediately transition to genin." The one eyed jonin added, "To be perfectly honest, I thought the Hokage was giving you all too much credit. No matter the skill level, if a fresh pack of green genin are not given this second test, the likelihood of them surviving their first C rank mission is below 25%."

I clicked my tongue. He underestimates us, therefore this little group training session was probably meant to validate if the Hokage was going senile or if he was correct in making his assumption about our ability level.

"Enough of this special treatment crap. Words won't prove anything, and my specialty happens to be letting my actions speak for me. We'll just have to show you that oji-san wasn't wrong to put his faith in us, besides if the Kami of shinobi said that about us himself, you had better keep your guard up regardless of opinion." Naruto warned.

Kakashi must have smirked behind his facemask because his eye was just brimming with eagerness. "You've got a point, I don't want to end up losing my credibility as a Jonin, but still I just can't help but see you as adorably snot filled little genin who don't know the severity of the world yet." The silver haired wolf grounded.

"Let's move, we're heading out to training ground seven, or in other words, your new second home." Kakashi said.

After that, he leapt off the roof top and in a matter of seconds he moved from the top of the Academy building to the top of the village gates.

"Hmph, show off." Sasuke voiced before he took off as well. Just as I was about to follow after them, Naruto laid his hand on my shoulder.

I looked back at him wondering why the hold up, and he asked, "I've got a plan, you with me?"

"As long as it sounds like it didn't come from a brain dead idiot I'll hear you out." I replied.

"You're so mean to me Karin-chan." He fake pouted.

"If you stopped acting like an idiot then I'll stop treating you like one, but the odds of that happening are one in a million." I stated before I too jumped from the top of the academy and made my way towards the training ground. Naruto trailing right behind me.

**~Training Ground 7~**

One thing I can say I love about Konoha is that its beautiful greenery and forestry significantly surpassed Kusa's non-seasonal shrubs and brown bushes. We all stood at the center of a clear and vast prairie field

It brought a peaceful state of mind even though we were about to check one of the most highly skilled shinobi in the village. I could basically hear the serenity; the surrounding trees shuddering from the wind, birds cawing overhead, and the clouds wild imagination floating with many different unique shapes.

Kakashi stood eight feet from us. When he slid his green book that he was reading into his back pocket he spoke for the last time.

"Let's make this fun. I have two bells, and whoever can manage to snatch a bell can have lunch on me, while whoever doesn't is going to have a hilarious picture taken."

"I'm only going to say this once. Come at me with the intent to kill. If not, then you're not wasting only my time, but your ally's as well."

I slowly inhaled then exhaled trying to steel my nerves. It's been a long time since I felt this anxious. Bitter memories of that cursed man dared to enter my brain and I quickly shrugged the hindrance off. Better to put your all into something then to stress out about it before even starting.

On my right was Naruto. He wore a fishnet long sleeve shirt underneath a black and orange button down jersey that was left open. The sleeves were burnt orange while the rest was black. On the back of the jersey was the Uzumaki clan symbol colored in chalk white. The blonde's also black hiate adorned his head along with his wild and spiky hair. On his legs were regular black pants with ninja tape wrapped around his left leg.

We both wore hanafuda earrings that displayed the Uzumaki clan symbol in red with a white background. Naruto apparently stole the idea from Shikamaru Nara, saying that his clan along with the Akimichi and the Yamanaka wear studs to exhibit the comradery they share amongst one another.

Naruto had the slick notion to steal their idea and make it uniquely our own, so we won't be accused of having a bootleg version. I was wary at first, but when he gave them to me this morning as a graduation present and I put them on, they didn't look bad at all. In fact, I wouldn't mind incorporating the earrings into the Uzumaki clan's everyday wear for the future.

Looking down I admitted that I did indeed look good myself. Not that I really cared much about clothing and fashion, but I could practically hear Anko-nee cat calling me out the door. I wore a burgundy hooded crop-top with my clan symbol on the back outlined in black and shaded in with crimson red. I wore black leggings and white bandages covering my ankles. My hair was pulled in a ponytail that spiked down to the middle of my shoulder blades while bangs framed my face. My favorite cocoa brown glasses comfortably sitting on my nose bridge.

Finally, on my left was the Uchiha. While it is true that I no longer carried feelings for him anymore, when I first saw his outfit _it_ did make me blush. It immediately vanished when I caught myself.

He had on a high collared navy blue shirt without sleeves. On his back was the Uchiha fan, and starting from his bicep to his forearm covered a white arm sleeve on both arms. His cargo pants were dark grey and his ninja sandals were maroon.

There was a long bit of silence, and he studied each of our prepared and determined faces.

Without any further ado he hollered, "Begin!" and our battle commenced.

Naruto pulled his hands together and shouted, **"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"**

Three other Naruto's popped into existence. Two of them rushed at Kakashi with one throwing a right hook and the other attempting to sweep his legs. Kakashi easily moved his head to dodge the punch while simultaneously hopping into the air. He threw the punching clone behind him and reversed kicked the other's jaw.

"Kage bunshin eh, are you sure you know how to properly use them?" the superior shinobi asked with fake concern.

"Why don't you just worry about yourself sensei?" Naruto smirked.

Suddenly, two different demon windmills were shot at Kakashi from in front and behind his body by myself and a clone. Kakashi only rolled his eye until he realized there was a Naruto missing.

Before he could pinpoint his location, two light orange ethereal chains wrapped around and constrained sensei.

"What the…"

From above was Naruto diving with incredible speed. He had his leg raised and using momentum swung down his leg for a devastating axe kick.

A cloud of dust was raised, so I couldn't see him, but luckily for me I didn't need my eyes.

"Naruto beneath you!" I alerted. He quickly flipped back just before two hands shot upwards from the ground. Those same hands placed themselves on the ground and the jonin lifted himself back up to the surface.

He whistled and commented, "I gotta tell you, you're certainly not predictable. Just what were those chains?" he commended.

"Heh heh, you ain't seen nothing yet sensei."

Judging from what I've just seen, simply combating him isn't going to do us any good. The older shinobi was able to read and analyze our movements while maintaining a bored look. Based on experience alone, he outclassed us in every aspect. The only decent strategy was a planned ambush not only using deception, but by using every other skill we got.

Ashamedly I have to admit that having Sasuke's help was the only way we were going to get this done, especially because ambushes required a silent and patient approach which Naruto barely had.

I noticed he was gone as soon as Naruto first attacked, probably wanting to assess Kakashi's skills before confronting the man himself.

I turned and cracked my neck before pulling out a kunai. I nodded to Naruto, who painfully nodded back. He summoned ten more clones with a puff of smoke that masked his body jumping back into the forestry behind us.

All ten clones including myself sprinted directly at Kakashi. I let the other Naruto's pass me so that they could distract him. Kakashi remained silent while effortlessly sifting through all of the missed punches, kicks, and kunai.

While he was busy dealing with the clones, I used momentum to slide in-between his legs and stuck a paper bomb to his ankle.

"Well shit." And 'Kakashi' blew up into splinters of bark along with the other Naruto clones.

Adjusting my glasses, I dispersed my range of chakra to feel for his. I then threw my kunai directly at a tree in front of me, signaling to my teammates that I found his real hiding spot.

"**Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu!"(Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu)**

"**Fūton: Daitoppa!"(Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)**

Three different dragon head-shaped fireballs roared with the powerful howling winds that supported them. The tree that Kakashi was supposed to be in exploded with a resounding boom.

"What the hell, what does it take to make contact with this guy!?" I muttered frustrated. He showed himself at the very position he started in. None of our attacks were getting through, I didn't know how anybody could be this calculated.

He didn't have a scratch on him, and I was running out of ideas.

Sasuke chose this moment to attack him directly.

"Don't underestimate him and choose attacks that could work on anyone of lesser rank." Sasuke chastised me.

Proving to be a man of his word, his sharingan were glaring at Kakashi while they both engaged in taijutsu.

When Sasuke actually managed to slip past his guard and deliver a kick to Kakashi's chin; springing him into the air, I leapt into the air and greeted him with both of my legs wrapped around his neck. I gripped his neck with full strength, then turning and flipping in midair with his neck carried I pumped chakra into my thighs and sent him crashing to the ground giving Sasuke an opportunity to make a grab for the bells.

When his index finger touched it, Kakashi popped out of existence…again.

"What the fuck is with this guy. He's masterfully fucking with us and we just keep getting fucked." Naruto complained.

"It's always weird saying this but, I agree." Sasuke relented.

"That's enough! It seems that it would take too much work to beat you guys and I still have a report to deliver to the Hokage. Sigh… that and you've already passed the lesson I wanted to teach, which was teamwork. Going off of this little bout, all three of you have the necessary skills and tactical minds needed for genin and then some, but you're still going to have show me a lot more through your training. I'll admit that you've got me interested."

"So soon! You're so lazy Kakashi sensei." Naruto whined.

Sensei only shrugged with indifference and said, "So what does my new team want to eat. I'm still buying."

"Worst mistake of your life." I told him.

Sasuke chuckled and voiced, "I don't mind having Ichiraku."

Naruto's disposition dramatically changed, and with stars in his eyes he said, "Kakashi sensei you're the best!"

It was moment's like these that I appreciated Sasuke. The crafty bastard and I thought alike, we wanted to go a few more rounds with sensei so that this promotion can actually feel like a real accomplishment.

Since he wanted to call it early, he was going to learn firsthand what buying really meant, especially at Ichiraku. At least then we can say we hurt his wallet even though we didn't land one hit on him.

_**Kakashi**_

Minato-sensei, Kushina, Obito, Rin, I can finally make things right. I'm very grateful for your blessings. I won't fail this time, I promise you on all of your names.


End file.
